Chris Rigg rewrote the record books as he became Sunderland's youngest-ever goalscorer - and the youngest scorer from any club in League Cup history - but it was not enough as the Black Cats were dumped out of the competition on penalties. The Black Cats exited the cup at the hands of League Two Crewe, losing 5-3 on penalties at the Stadium of Light after the sides had finished level at 1-1 at the end of normal time.

Luke Offord had headed the Railwaymen in front in injury-time at the end of the first half. But academy graduate Rigg levelled just after the hour, and his goal saw him set a new club record at the age of 16 years and 51 days, taking over from Jimmy Hamilton who was aged 16 years and 103 days when he scored against Preston North End in the league in September 1971.

The game ended all-square and it went straight to penalties, with Crewe going first and they were flawless from the spot while Pierre Ekwah was the unlucky man, missing the Black Cats' third kick which meant Ryan Cooney struck the decisive penalty for the visitors. Tony Mowbray handed debuts to two new signings, former Manchester United goalkeeper Nathan Bishop and Australia U23 international defender Nectar Triantis.

READ MORE: Sunderland 1-1 Crewe Alexandra: Reaction as Black Cats dumped out of cup 5-3 on penalties

Sunderland dominated possession in the opening 45 minutes but looked short of ideas in the final third, and were largely restricted to a handful long-range efforts from Alex Pritchard, most of them straight at Crewe keeper Harvey Davies. But on the half-hour Pritchard did force Davies into a decent stop with a 25-yard free-kick which saw the keeper dive to his right to push the ball away.

And five minutes before the break, Abdoullah Ba was released down the left and he teed up Pritchard whose first touch was good and opened up space for a shot, but his effort was straight at Davies. At the other end, Crewe hit the woodwork inside the opening 20 minutes with a free-kick from Jack Powell which beat Bishop but hit the base of the right-hand post and went behind for a goal kick.

Crewe took the lead in the first minute of added time at the end of the first half from what was their first effort on target of the match. They won a corner on the right which was delivered into the box by Joel Tabiner, and Offord was there at the far post to head home.

The first half also featured four booking, one for each team for fouls, but Sunderland's Pritchard and Jewison Bennette fell foul of the new rules to combat timewasting, with the former penalised for kicking the ball away after conceding a free-kick, while the latter was shown a yellow card for failing to retreat at a Crewe free-kick. After such a poor first half, Mowbray made three changes at the break in an attempt to spark his side into life, with Bradley Dack making his debut as one of the three half-time subs.

And Dack set up a chance for Bennette early in the second period, but Davies came off his line quickly to make a good save. But Sunderland levelled on 64 minutes through Rigg's landmark goal.

Sub Jack Clarke crossed from the left, Pritchard tried to flick the ball on but in the end it came off a defender and fell invitingly for Rigg 14 yards out, and he coolly picked out the bottom right-hand corner. Sunderland almost found a winner 14 minutes from the end when Ekwah rattled the right-hand post from 30 yards.

And deep into injury-time, it took a brilliant save from Davies to deny Dack after he had been put in on goal by Pritchard, and that - along with a header over the bar from the resulting corner - was the final chance before the game went to penalties.

How they lined up

Sunderland: Bishop, Johnson (Crompton 46), Triantis, Batth, Huggins, Neil (Ekwah 46), Rigg, Taylor (Dack 46), Ba (Clarke 59), Bennette (Bellingham 69), Pritchard. Subs not used: Patterson, Roberts, O'Nien, Spellman

Booked: Batth, Bennette, Pritchard, Ba

Crewe Alexandra: Davies, Cooney, Offord, Billington (Adebisi 59), Williams, Tabiner, O'Riordan, Tracey (Long 59), Powell, Holicek (Demetriou 90+2), Baker-Richardson (Nevitt 69). Subs not used: Booth, Thomas, Griffiths, Woodcock

Booked: Powell, Holicek, Lunt, Offord

Referee: Scott Oldham (Lancashire)