SOCCER/ FA Cup semi-final: Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy could not disguise his bitter disappointment at missing out on reaching the FA Cup final after losing 1-0 to Millwall at Old Trafford yesterday.

"I'm devastated for the lads and we feel hard done by," he said. "We started really well but goals change games and Millwall upped theirs after they scored and took it to us.

"In the second half we played as well as we could but we did not get a goal and that cost us, of course. I don't feel my players let anybody down.

"People will be patting my players on the back and saying 'well done', and they shouldn't be saying anything else about us. But we have a huge game in the league away at Wimbledon on Tuesday and it might be that we have to go to Cardiff through the play-offs.

"You feel lousy, but you have to face it. I am as disappointed as the players are, but do we lie down and hide and shirk or do we take it like men and respond in a positive manner?

"We have had disappointments before, maybe not the magnitude of losing in an FA Cup semi-final, and we will find out on Tuesday how we respond.

"Semi-final defeats are the most painful - they have been since I was a kid. If you go out in the first round then it's over, but the closer you get to the final then hope springs eternal."

McCarthy rejected criticism of his decision to take of striker Kevin Kyle and replace him with Marcus Stewart - a substitution described as "inexplicable" by TV pundit Niall Quinn.

"Niall Quinn probably has sympathy with big 6ft 4in target men," said McCarthy. "I changed things around because I didn't think we were getting any joy with balls down the throats of their centre-halves, who had a particularly good day.

"I sent on Marcus Stewart because he is the leading scorer at this football club, and, to be fair, we had a couple of chances after that."

Milwall's player-manager Dennis Wise savoured the club's success in reaching their first FA Cup final as one of his sweetest moments in football.

The 37-year-old Millwall player-manager yesterday performed like the 21-year-old who won the Cup with Wimbledon in 1988.

Wise also won the Cup twice with Chelsea and was a losing finalist once - to Manchester United, who will be Millwall's opponents in Cardiff. But there was no disguising his joy and pride after Australian midfielder Tom Cahill's goal secured the victory.

Wise, who needed stitches in a knee wound at the end of the match, said: "This is fantastic for me - it's up there with everything because I'm a player-manager now.

"I'm delighted for the players and chuffed for the chairman Theo (Paphitis). He's promised to run through London naked if we get to the final and I'm looking forward to that, and if he doesn't do it then he has to give a lot of money to charity for me.

"We're in the UEFA Cup as well - it's great, I'm just laughing - I haven't even got my coaching badges yet. But that's next year and we have just got to concentrate on this season and getting into the play-offs. It's so important to this club to get up and it would be a fantastic season if we did."

The Millwall boss added: "We are so looking forward to getting to Cardiff. We will be underdogs by I don't know how much. To win would be an even greater upset than when Wimbledon won it. Manchester United are one of the ultimate teams and we are going there to really enjoy ourselves."