Sunderland 1-1 Crewe Alexandra 1: Chris Rigg makes history before shock penalty shootout defeat

Chris Rigg made history as Sunderland's youngest-ever goalscorer but it wasn't enough to save his side from being knocked out by League Two side Crewe Alexandra in a penalty shootout.

Rigg had helped his side battle back from an uninspiring first-half performance in which they feel behind to a Luke Offord header, and though they were significantly better in the latter stages of the game they again lacked a clinical edge without a centre forward.

That allowed the visitors to hold on and take the contest to spot kicks, and Pierre Ekwah's miss ultimately proved crucial as Tony Mowbray's side lost 5-3 in the shootout.

Mowbray rotated his side heavily as expected, with the game kicking off barely 48 hours after the season opener at Ipswich Town had finished. The Black Cats were again operating without a recognised striker, but started brightly enough as Taylor cut in from the right flank and saw an effort deflected over the bar.

Sunderland were dominating possession without carving out any real chances, and it was the visitors who looked the most threatening from set-piece situations. Tabiner drove an effort just wide when a corner fell kindly for him on the edge of the box, before Powell cracked the foot of the post from around 25 yards with an excellent free kick: Bishop was well beaten in goal.

Mowbray's side were labouring, barely registering an effort of note when in fairness they had three. Pritchard stung the palms of Davies with two long-range efforts, before failing to make the most of an opening inside the box when teed up by Abdoullah Ba on the left. It looked as if the hosts wee finally beginning to get to grips with the task at hand but as on Sunday, a failure to defend a set piece saw them fall behind. it was an excellent, inswinging effort but Sunderland defended it poorly, allowing Offord to rise at the back post and head home.

The introduction of Bradley Dack, one of three half-time substitutions, saw the intensity of Sunderland's play improve considerably after the break and the attacking midfielder went close to a debut goal when his effort was deflected just wide of the far post. He was linking up well with Rigg and Pritchard and just after the hour mark the pressure paid off. An initial cross into the box was cleared by Crewe but weakly, falling to Rigg on the edge of the box who scored with a clever finish on his weaker right foot.

Though Crewe steadied somewhat the hosts were looking the more likely, and went close when Ekwah's first-time effort from 20 yards beat the goalkeeper but struck the outside of the post and rolled clear of goal.

The hosts went close to snatching the win in stoppage time, with Dack forcing a save from Davies before Batth headed the following corner just wide of the post.

A high-quality shootout was then settled by a miss from the otherwise impressive Ekwah, whose effort couldn't find the bottom corner and was turned wide by Davies. Though far from the club's top priority this season, it means Sunderland's campaign has got off to an underwhelming start.

Sunderland XI: Bishop, Johnson (Crompton, 45), Triantis, Batth, Huggins; Neil (Ekwah, 45), Rigg; Taylor (Dack, 45), Pritchard, Bennette (Bellingham, 69); Ba (Clarke, 59)

Subs: Patterson, Roberts, O'Nien, Spellman

Crewe Alexandra XI: Davies, Cooney, Billington (Adebisi, 59), Offord, O'Riordan, Williams, Tabiner, Powell (Lunt, 59), Holicek (Demetriou, 92), Tracey (Long 59), Baker-Richardson (Nevitt, 69)

Subs: Booth, Demetriou, Thomas, Griffiths, Woodcock

Bookings: Powell, 13 Batth, 16 Bennette, 30 Pritchard, 33 Ba, 49 Holicek, 83 Lunt, 84 Offord, 89