LEE CATTERMOLE has already experienced what it is like to embark on an FA Cup run, now the fit-again midfielder wants to taste another in the hope it might revitalise Sunderland’s season.

It is a little over four years since Cattermole made his full first team debut before helping Middlesbrough beat Nuneaton, Coventry, Preston and Charlton to reach the semi-final of the competition.

The memory of those ties still lives with Cattermole, who was left frustrated and disappointed by having to sit in the stands at Villa Park in 2006, when Steve McClaren’s team lost their semi-final against West Ham.

Cattermole doesn’t like to talk too much about his days with Boro, but he fondly recalls his first season when he also got to play in the UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven.

Since then, however, he has not particularly enjoyed the FA Cup, with a defeat to Manchester United at the sixth round stage the following year the furthest he has reached.

Such experiences have given him hope that trying to reach the fifth round this year with Sunderland could revitalise a season in which they are struggling to recapture their early form.

“You can just sense here that if we got on a good cup run, like we did at Middlesbrough that year, it would give the whole place a lift,”

said Cattermole, ahead of today’s trip to Portsmouth.

“The FA Cup is a massive competition. With Manchester United and Liverpool being knocked out, there’s going to be a lot of clubs in with a chance.

“You never know, a couple of good little draws, then wins and you soon have the semifinals coming round. They are great days out for the club and it gives everyone a lift.

“The FA Cup is different to the Carling Cup. I watched Man United v Leeds the other week and there were 78,000 there for a third round tie. It shows you how special it is.”

Cattermole’s career might have moved on considerably since the days of frustration while he waited for Gareth Southgate to give him a regular role at the Riverside Stadium, but he still looks back on his debut season as one that got away.

“We got to the semi-final of the FA Cup and the final of the UEFA Cup that year. I played in most of the FA Cup matches but I got injured so I couldn’t play in the semifinal,”

said Cattermole.

“I would have played in that game at the time because I was doing well for Steve Mc- Claren. It would have been frustrating for any young lad not to play in a semi-final, but it was more frustrating for me because I knew I had a good chance of playing.

“I thought we would have won as well, so to have reached two finals in one year would have been great. It wasn’t to be.”

With the huge sums of money exchanging hands in professional football, the 22- year-old admits he does not intend to look back on his career when he eventually retires and boast no winners’ medals.

“A chance of winning medals was the reason why I came to Sunderland,” said Cattermole.

Signed for £6m in the summer from Wigan, he hopes to return from injury at Fratton Park today.

“I didn’t really want to come back to the North-East. I had a great life in Manchester. I was living in one of the wealthiest places there is to live. It was unbelievable while I was playing for Wigan.

There was no expectation, they just wanted to stay in the Premier League.

“I had the opportunity to join up with the manager again here, and knowing the backing he was going to receive to build a successful team here was exciting. We want to get into Europe here.

“I want to succeed in my career and to know I have made the best of what I have got will be brilliant. I would love to be in a position come the end of the season where I’m celebrating winning trophies.

“Until you get a taste of it you don’t really know what it is like. If you are hungry you want to win again.”