Jocelin Ta Bi set up all three of Sunderland’s goals in a 13-minute first-half burst as the Black Cats beat Brentford 3-2 at the Stadium of Light, ending the Bees’ Carabao Cup run and sending Sunderland into the quarter-finals despite Igor Thiago’s stoppage-time reply.
Sunderland, England: Brentford had the early pressure, the woodwork and a shot cleared off the line. Sunderland had Ta Bi. By the time the first half ended, the 21-year-old, who joined in January, had created everything his side needed to book a place in the last eight.
Brentford start fast, Sunderland strike first
The visitors dominated the opening phase. Jannik Schuster’s header hit the crossbar and Michael Kayode struck the post from the rebound, while a Brentford shot was also cleared off the line, all with the score at 0-0. Keith Andrews had made eight changes from the 1-1 draw with Hull City, and his side looked the more threatening until the 26th minute.
Then Ta Bi drove a low shot that goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson saved, and Chemsdine Talbi tapped the rebound in on the line.
Three goals, 13 minutes
Three minutes later it was two. Ta Bi dribbled into the box on the right, beat his marker and pulled the ball back, and Timur Tutierov side-footed it in from six yards. In the 39th minute Ta Bi crossed again, and Malick Fofana headed in unmarked at the far post to make it 3-0.
Wilson and Thiago make it tense
Brentford hit back just before half-time. Callum Wilson bundled the ball in from close range in the 42nd minute after a scramble, and the visitors kept pressing without finding a second until the fourth minute of stoppage time. Igor Thiago got on the end of Mathias Jensen’s delivery, but it came too late to change the outcome. Andrews said afterwards that his side’s poor defending and mistakes had cost them three goals in one spell.
Result (Carabao Cup fourth round, Stadium of Light, Wednesday 28 October 2026):
Sunderland 3-2 Brentford (Talbi 26’, Tutierov 29’, Fofana 39’; Wilson 42’, Thiago 90+4’)
