A sizzling Patrick van Aanholt strike midway through the first half against Leeds United was enough to edge Sunderland through in The FA Cup.
In a re-run of the 1973 Final when the then Second Division Black Cats upset the odds to defeat Don Revie’s legendary United side 1-0, it took just the solitary goal once again to separate the teams.
The Championship visitors made seven changes from Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Derby County. Boss Neil Redfearn handed first starts to Brian Montenegro, a Paraguayan striker who joined on-loan from Nacional Asuncion in the summer, and Dario Del Fabro, a Italian U19 international defender on-loan from Cagliari.
Although chances were few and far between in the opening spell, the hosts dominated possession and it was they who always looked most likely to open the scoring.
The warning signs were there for Leeds when Ricardo Alvarez’s drive was deflected onto the top of the bar and Steven Fletcher missed a glaring chance from eight yards when Van Aanholt found him unmarked with a cross from the left.
Not to be deterred, the Black Cats continued to purr and they were denied by a scrambled Casper Sloth clearance on the post six minutes later as Santiago Vergini met Jordi Gomez’s corner with a header.
Despite a large contingent of travelling fans backing them, Leeds were offering very little and it was no surprise when Sunderland’s persistence finally paid off - courtesy of Van Aanholt just after the half-hour mark.
The flying Dutchman, who had been a thorn in the visitor's side throughout, was fed the ball on the left of the area by Fletcher and his unstoppable first time left-footed strike with the outside of his boot whizzed inside the post.
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