For Michael Gray in 1998, read Lee Cattermole 21 years later, Sunderland’s fall guy in a penalty shootout at Wembley.
Gray is still best, or worst, remembered for being the only player to miss during a play-off final against Charlton more than two than decades ago.
And Cattermole can only hope that his Sunderland legacy is not defined in similar fashion.
The midfielder saw his effort saved by Craig MacGillivray and that was enough for Portsmouth as Oli Hawkins smashed the decisive spot-kick to win the Checkatrade Trophy for Kenny Jackett’s men.
This was the final the EFL had wanted, the two biggest clubs in League One, and a competition record crowd of 85,021 were duly treated to a final that ebbed, flowed, flowed and ebbed.
The opening 60 seconds were a sign of things to come, at least during the first half, as Sunderland skipper George Honeyman burned by a leaden backline and swept across goal, where defender Nathan Thompson slid to poke past the base of his post.
Black Cats winger Lewis Morgan then twice went close, first with a dipping shot that landed on the roof of the net and then when his 25-yard volley stung the palms of MacGillivray.
A large chunk of this competition is, quite literally, men against boys given the inclusion of the Premier League’s under-age teams. This game was taking on a similar guise, so inferior were Portsmouth in every department. Sunderland simply looked fitter, faster and stronger.
The only surprise was that it took until 38 minutes for them to find the breakthrough goal. Aiden McGeady won the free-kick 25 yards out and there was no chance of a team-mate taking ownership of the deadball, so inspired had the wideman been until that point.
There followed an impromptu roar of encouragement from the masses of red and white as McGeady began his approach and that noise soon escalated as his curler was deflected into the top corner.
Come half-time Portsmouth would have been the happier of the teams, for they should have been trailing by more than one.
Surely they could not be as laboured and unimaginative in the second half? They weren’t and it was Sunderland who soon looked short on energy and ideas.
Pompey skipper Brett Pitman cracked the post with a measured half volley from 20 yards before right-back Thompson, deployed much higher after the break, lifted over from close range.
But Thompson would make such no mistake from an identical position on 82 minutes, showing more desire than marker Reece James as he steamed in to head home from a Gareth Evans centre. Parity was well deserved, for Sunderland had not even been in the opposition penalty area in the second half.
Black Cats boss Jack Ross had stood in conference with his backroom team in a desperate search for answers as Pompey poured forward, but they did not have any.
It was they who were fortunate to see extra-time and they were equally lucky to see penalties.
Jamal Lowe thought he had won it for Pompey when, with just six minutes remaining, he lifted over a stranded Jon McLaughlin and into the back of the net after a mistake by defender Jack Baldwin.
But then, with less than 90 second to play, McGeady jinked clear in the area and his low shot was carried over the line by Matt Clarke, the defender sliding in a desperate attempt to block.
Lowe should have won it in injury-time but swiped at fresh air inside the six-yard area. It was a fitting finish to a pulsating final.
