SUNDERLAND boss Mick McCarthy last night hit back at suggestions that he hindered his side's chances in the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Millwall by substituting striker Kevin Kyle.

The Scotland international was replaced by Marcus Stewart shortly after the hour mark despite looking like Sunderland's most likely saviour in the early stages of the second half.

With the Black Cats trailing to Tim Cahill's first-half strike, Kyle twice went close to a leveller after the break with a fierce drive that flew narrowly over and a header that drew a fine save from Millwall keeper Andy Marshall.

But he still found himself banished to the bench in the 61st minute as McCarthy threw on Stewart to partner Tommy Smith up front.

Kyle was visibly shocked by the decision, and his disappointment was shared by Sunderland strike legend Niall Quinn.

The former Republic of Ireland international knows the value of a tall target man when losing sides are throwing the ball forward in the latter stages of a game.

And he thinks things could have turned out differently if Kyle had been kept on for the final half an hour.

"I can't defend that decision at all," said Quinn. "After Kevin was taken off, I never thought that we would win."

But McCarthy was quick to defend his decision to replace Kyle with Sunderland's current top scorer. Stewart scored against Millwall in the 2-1 defeat at the New Den earlier this year and the Black Cats' boss is adamant he did the right thing in giving him the chance to find the target again.

"We needed to break them down and, to be fair, we had a few more chances after I made the change," said McCarthy.

"I didn't think we were getting any joy against their centre-halves and I thought we needed to alter things a bit.

"Their two centre-halves were picking everything out of the air and Marcus isn't exactly a bad substitute to bring on.

"I can see where Quinny's coming from because he's a six foot striker so he'll sympathise with a centre-forward.

"But I changed it because I felt we needed to and I'm happy with the decision."

Read more about Sunderland here.