Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole received the seventh red card of his career on Tuesday night in the 2-0 Capital One Cup third round win at MK Dons.

The 24-year-old was dismissed for an ugly lunge at defender Adam Chicksen after losing control of the ball to earn his marching orders for the fifth time with the Black Cats.

Since Cattermole joined Sunderland from Wigan in 2009, he has made 79 appearances for the club and been cautioned on 28 occasions in addition to his five dismissals.

His second season on Wearside started in particularly grim fashion with two red cards in his first four games against Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City, while the last campaign saw him cautioned on no fewer than 12 occasions.

Although never sent off in three seasons with Middlesbrough, he also managed a dozen yellow cards in a single campaign with his hometown club in 2006-07, and picked up 10 yellow and two red in his one season with Wigan in 2008-09.

Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill warned his skipper after the Mackems' victory that he needs to rein in his aggression.

"The truth is you have to help yourself somewhere along the way," he said at his post-match press conference. "Discipline is something that he will have to consider, or re-consider, or re-re-reconsider.

"It is a serious offence to get sent off the field. You come in lunging with your feet and you're going to get sent off, simple as that. And that's three games out. It's bad enough with all the injuries we have but, when it's self-inflicted, it's ridiculous."