The 34-year-old's sixth strike in seven games 15 minutes from time put the visitors into a 2-0 lead which the Barclays Premier League side were unable to erase in a late fightback.

County assistant boss Rae said: "He's an absolute handful. He has scored six goals in seven games, so he has still got a lot to offer.

"But it is not just that, his physical presence helps us a lot as well. He gets a lot of flick-ons and he is a handful."

Hughes also had a hand in the opening goal, which came in controversial circumstances with home keeper Simon Mignolet appealing in vain for a foul.

Craig Westcarr's flick from Ben Davies' cross looked harmless until Kieran Richardson collided with Mignolet as he tried to claim the ball under pressure from the former West Brom striker.

Sunderland's response was tepid, although record singing Asamoah Gyan passed up a glorious chance to equalise in the final minute of the first half.

They were little better after the break and the game looked to be over when Hughes carved his way through the home defence and after Mignolet had blocked his initial effort, drilled the loose ball into the empty net.

Hughes' celebrations did not go down well with the home fans, whose hopes were raised briefly when Darren Bent converted an 81st-minute penalty, but the England striker headed over in the sixth minute of injury time as a belated fightback came up short.

Rae, who was sent up to do the post-match press conference by superstitious manager Paul Ince after doing so throughout the League One club's unbeaten seven-game run, said when asked about the opening goal: "To be honest, I never saw it.

"Somebody said maybe Hughesy might have pushed someone, but I still haven't seen it.

"But it settled us down a little bit, getting the early goal. Once you have got that lead, it's always something to cling on to and you tend to find an extra yard.

"I felt as if we were quite comfortable in the first half. I don't think they created a lot and we might have nicked another one through Westcarr.

"We always felt as if we might have needed that second goal because of the quality of Sunderland.

"It's always difficult coming up here. We knew we were coming up to face a very good Sunderland team, so we are absolutely delighted to be in the next round."

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce cut a forlorn figure as he surveyed the wreckage of another short-lived cup adventure.

He made seven changes to the side which won 1-0 at Aston Villa in midweek, some of them enforced, but others with one eye on next Sunday's derby clash with Newcastle.

He said: "Certainly by looking at what we have just witnessed today with six or seven missing, we simply aren't good enough.

"With six or seven [out], we simply couldn't handle it, so that's the disappointing thing for me.

"People who have been knocking on my door wanting a game were, unfortunately today, found sadly wanting.

"I'm not going to try to make excuses, that would be unfair on Notts County. We have to accept that we were nowhere near good enough.

"Simply on the day, we didn't perform well enough, and when you perform like that and you are lacklustre like we were, then we got exactly what we deserved.

"We got our backsides kicked, and rightly so."