Sunderland set up a Capital One Cup quarter-final with Chelsea after beating Southampton 2-1 at the Stadium of Light last night.

Second-half goals from Phil Bardsley and Sebastian Larsson were enough to secure the Black Cats' victory, but Gus Poyet's men were made to sweat late on after Maya Yoshida netted for the Saints to set-up a nervy final five minutes.

But Poyet's men held on and the Uruguyan manager will be hoping this win over an in-form Southampton side will inject some much needed confidence in to the squad in order for them to start climbing away from the dreaded Premier League drop-zone.

Southampton's record at the Stadium Light didn't make pretty reading ahead of this game, having not won any of their last five trips there, and they were unable to bring that run to a halt, even with a side featuring several changes to one that drew with Stoke last weekend.

The opening 45 minutes failed to capture the imagination of the 16,000 fans inside the 49,000-seater Stadium of Light, with Saints' Gaston Ramirez spurning arguably the best chance of the half when he fired over from 10-yards following a Jack Cork through ball.

Emanuele Giaccherini came closest for the hosts before the break when he struggled to get the ball from under his feet in time to get his shot away from eight yards before Jozy Altidore saw his shot trickle wide from 20-yards out.

Sunderland upped their game in the second-half and deservedly took the lead through Bardsley pounced quickest after Kelvin Davis' save from Altidore's header resulted in a goal-mouth scramble.

Southampton went in search of an equaliser and felt they should have had a penalty when Calum Chambers was dragged to the floor by Jack Colback, but referee Lee Mason waved away the Saints players' appeals.

Sunderland stopper almost handed the vistitors an equaliser when his clearance hit the back of Jay Rodriguez and almost looped back over him in to his empty net, but his blushes were spared.

But Sunderland continued to find the goal that would put them out of sight and they were rewarded when they Jozy Altidore broke forward before laying off to Larsson who expertdly finished form inside the area to kill the game off with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

But Southampton's Yoshida gave the visiting side hope when he headed in James Ward-Prowse's cross before Ward-Prowse himself almost forced extra-time when a sweet volley from outside the area, but it sailed just over Mannone's bar.

Poyet was understandably delighted to see his side progress to the quarter-finals and was impressed with his side's performance.

He said after the game: "We passed the ball more today than in the last three games together, which is something we need to keep believing in because it has to be the way in the future."

Sunderland face Manchester City at the weekend and will have to be on top of their game once again if they're going to add to this victory, while Southampton have the incentive of a potential top-four place by the end of the weekend's fixtures if they are to respond to this disappointment by winning against Hull at St. Mary's.

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