Jack Ross has no regrets over his choice of penalty-takers at Wembley, despite Sunderland suffering the agony of a shootout defeat in the EFL Trophy final.

Aiden McGeady , Lynden Gooch , Max Power , and Luke O'Nien all converted their penalties, but there was heartbreak for Sunderland's second taker Lee Cattermole who saw his kick saved by Portsmouth keeper Craig MacGillivray, while Pompey made no mistakes to win the shootout 5-4 after the game had ended level at 2-2 following extra-time.

Many observers were surprised that players such as Cattermole and O'Nien were among Sunderland's first five penalty-takers ahead of the likes of striker Charlie Wyke and skipper George Honeyman .

But Ross said: "I understand that point, and it would have concerned me as a manager if some of the five weren't equipped to take a penalty and score it but those first five were the ones who wanted to take penalties and I had no qualms about that, or doubts in my mind that they go and score.

"But, saying that, in a shootout ultimately someone will miss at some stage.

"I was comfortable with those that wanted to take penalties."

Ross says all five of those who took spot-kicks volunteered for the task and he backed them after watching his squad practise penalties in training.

"We'd done a lot of work on penalties in training so I knew from the quality of the penalties in training who would take them," he said.

"I knew Luke O'Nien would score.

"I believed that everyone who went up in that first five would score because I had seen them do it in the week.

Sunderland manager Jack Ross
Sunderland manager Jack Ross

"If Will Grigg and Grant Leadbitter had still been on the pitch there would have been a fight to whittle it down to five [takers] because Aiden was always going to want one, same for Lynden, and Max."

Cattermole was bitterly disappointed at missing his penalty but Ross knows the 31-year-old has the experience and the strength of character required to put the miss behind him and focus on helping the Black Cats win promotion.

"I thought about that afterwards, if it had been another player who had missed how it might have impacted upon them," said Ross, whose side will take on Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium in the league tomorrow night.

"But in all honesty, I don't think I would have been too worried about any of them because over the course of the season everyone who has played for this club has proved to be quite resilient.

"I haven't really spoken much about it to Lee because I know how much it hurt him - and it did hurt him.

"But if you are involved in this industry, life is full of ups and downs and you have to have an inner resilience - in fact, you have to be resilient in any walk of life.

"Lee is certainly that. He has had enough challenges in his career, people have written him off at various times, people have had a low opinion of him, but he has dealt with all that OK.

"He is just determined to have a successful season with us and you can see that from how he is on the park."