Sunderland fans were pleasantly surprised with the performance of their loanee left-back last night, as the Black Cats knocked the Blades out of the Carabao Cup.

Sheffield United joined Bournemouth, Tottenham and West Ham in falling short to lower-league opposition in the Carabao Cup Round of 32 last night, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at home to League One Sunderland.

A 9th minute goal from Max Power was enough for Jack Ross’ side to claim their first victory against United since 2005 and make it into the next round of the cup, where they face fellow giant killers Oxford United at the end of next month.

One player who impressed Sunderland’s Twitter faithful last night was Laurens de Bock.

The Belgian was a deadline day signing from Leeds United and slotted in at left-back alongside another debutant defender in Joel Lynch. Though with just seven appearances to his name since joining Leeds from Club Brugge in January 2018, fans weren’t sure what to expect of de Bock.

But de Bock looked solid defensively, and a threat going forward as he helped Sunderland to their first clean sheet of the season in all competitions. It puts him in pole position for a starting spot in Ross’ Sunderland side to face MK Dons at the weekend.

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