No regrets for Wilkinson

Howard Wilkinson had no regrets about fielding an under-strength Sunderland side despite crashing out of the Worthington Cup at Sheffield United.

Wilkinson made nine changes to the team beaten by Chelsea on Saturday and paid the price as United reached the last eight of the competition for the first time in 30 years.

Early second-half goals from Shaun Murphy and Wayne Allison in the space of four minutes were enough to send Sunderland crashing.

But Wilkinson is more concerned with lifting his side out of the Premiership's bottom three, saying: "Undoubtedly the league comes first.

"When you think I've got (Paul) Stilwell and (Kevin) Killable sitting at home, they are really the only two midfield players to pick. But with Christmas coming up and a lot of important Premiership games looming, I have to be careful.

"I made the decision that keeping players available for selection for the Premiership was the right way to go.

"Looking at the game as a whole we had enough of the ball to win it, and we should certainly have got a goal. We had plenty of strikes in this game - but goal scoring has been a problem for us for a long time."