Goals from Emanuele Giaccherini and Valentin Roberge were enough to see Sunderland through to the next round of the League Cup after beating Peterborough United.
The Wearsiders' start to life without Paolo Di Canio threatened to get off to nightmare start as Keiron Westwood was called on to keep out Danny Swanson's low drive.
However, Sunderland enjoyed the greater possession and more chances, with Lee Cattermole going close as he failed to connect with Sebastian Larsson corner.
Cattermole was involved in the Black Cats' opening goal as his precise cross was met by Italian international Giaccherini, who finished to grab his second goal for the club since joining in the summer.
Peterborough's own hopes of getting back into the game were dealt a huge blow after Lee Tomlin, who was subject of bids from Celtic during the summer, was injured by a challenge from Ki Sung-Yeung.
Sunderland continue to be the more threaten and grabbed a second goal when Larsson's corner was knocked back into the area by Adam Johnson and French defender Valentin Roberge headed home.
It was a largely comfortable night for interim head coach Kevin Ball as his looked to get his team back to winning ways after only picking up a point in their opening five league games.
