Perhaps Steve Bruce had a point. Accused of churlishness when he demurred at Kenwyne Jones assuming penalty duties from Darren Bent midway through a 5-2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers last month, the Sunderland manager clearly knew what he was talking about. On that occasion, Jones scored, but last night he did not. It proved desperately costly.

The consequence was a Carling Cup fourth-round tie against Aston Villa that could have been won under minimal duress, but which instead drifted into extra time and penalties. Naturally, Bruce’s side lost. Andy Reid, Lorik Cana and Jordan Henderson were all repelled by Brad Guzan and, while Gabriel Agbonlahor was also denied, John Carew, James Collins and Ashley Young were more precise.

Given his failure in the 83rd minute, it was far from surprising that Jones was not entrusted with a kick in the shootout. After Andy Reid’s cross was handled by Carlos Cuéllar, the Trinidad & Tobago striker’s tame effort was saved well by Guzan and a cagey match, which had failed to ignite, was destined to continue deep into the night. Villa had reason to feel gratitude.

With Darren Bent absent because of a knee injury, Jones was a natural choice to shoot from the spot — and there had been no complaints from Bruce — but his miss provoked another wave of Villa confidence. Pegged back and unadventurous for much of the tie, Martin O’Neill’s side responded with some vigour and they will now take their place in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Bruce was aggrieved. While Guzan was superb in goal for Villa — “he had the type of night he’ll remember for the rest of his career,” Bruce said, with a sigh — Sunderland spurned numerous chances, with the otherwise proficient Henderson and Kieran Richardson both guilty of profligacy.

“We didn’t deserve to lose, that’s for certain, but you can’t afford to miss like that at this level,” Bruce said and there are further concerns over the injury niggles picked up by George McCartney and Fraizer Campbell.

“His was a terrific performance,” O’Neill said of Guzan, who was standing in for Brad Friedel, his fellow American. “I think he’s a great goalkeeper in the making. He’s got everything in his locker and he’s as brave as they come. I can pay him no higher compliment than to say I expected him to make all those saves.”

Sunderland (4-5-1): C Gordon — P da Silva, N Nosworthy, M Turner, G McCartney (sub: A Ferdinand, 78min) — F Campbell (sub: S Malbranque, 95), J Henderson, L Cana, K Richardson, D Murphy (sub: A Reid, 73) — K Jones. Substitutes not used: M Fulop, D Healy, D Meyler, S Malbranque, A Reed. Booked: Henderson, Ferdinand.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Guzan — C Cuéllar, J Collins, R Dunne, S Warnock — J Milner, S Petrov (sub:S Sidwell, 116), N Reo-Coker (sub: F Delph, 91), A Young — E Heskey (sub: J Carew, 77), G Agbonlahor. Substitutes not used: B Friedel, L Young, N Shorey, H Beye. Booked: Petrov, Warnock, Collins.

Referee: P Dowd.