Sunderland must use their Wembley heartache as motivation when they take on Portsmouth in the League One play-offs.

Pompey inflicted an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat on the Black Cats in March, when they met in the Checkatraade Trophy final, and the two sides have been in close competition for promotion from League One all season.

Both teams fell short of the automatic places and looked set to meet at Wembley once more if they came through the semi-finals.

However, defeats on the final day meant both were overtaken by Charlton, who finished third, setting up a two-legged play-off tie at the Stadium of Light and Fratton Park.

Since the Wembley final, the sides played out a 1-1 draw in April but controversy ensued when a pyrotechnic was thrown from the away end into the Sunderland family stand. As a result of this incident, the Black Cats have given Pompey a reduced ticket allocation of 2,000, understood to be the minimum requirement of the Football League.

While neither team are in their best run of form going into the play-offs, Sunderland have a score to settle. The Black Cats were leading at Wembley with just eight minutes to go before Nathan Thompson's strike drew them level. Pompey then took the lead in extra time before Aiden McGeady took the game to penalties one minute before the end. Veteran midfielder Lee Cattermole was the only player to miss from 12 yards and he will be desperate to put that right over the two play-off ties.

Sunderland have failed to beat Portsmouth in any of their three meetings this season and the clubs seem to have built up an unlikely rivalry. While their final defeat was disappointing, the goal for Sunderland has always been promotion this season and fans will be as desperate as the players for the team to achieve this aim.

The Black Cats must utilise the disappointment they endured in March as extra motivation to come out on top this time.