DURING a season which included a Wembley final appearance and a memorable great escape from relegation in the Premier League, it may come as a slight surprise to learn that a crushing defeat at Hull City last March still weighs heavily on the mind of one of Sunderland’s foreign contingent.

It was FA Cup quarter-final weekend and Emanuele Giaccherini had a starting spot. Just a week after losing the Capital One Cup final to Manchester City, the Black Cats had the prospect of returning to Wembley for a second time in one season if they could overcome Hull.

Instead the Tigers cruised to a 3-0 victory at the KC Stadium and, despite all of the positives which emerged at the end of a turbulent campaign, the majority of Sunderland’s players from that afternoon are still on Wearside today and remain frustrated by the manner of that defeat.

After entering 2015, there is a keenness to move on and to make amends. What better way, then, than to start this season’s FA Cup run by facing Leeds United – the Wearside club’s opponents when they last won the competition in 1973 – at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

Having experienced the effects of what a decent cup charge can have on a squad battling away at the wrong end of the Premier League, Giaccherini is focused on bringing a bit more knock-out excitement to Sunderland.

“The Hull game last year was very disappointing,” said Giaccherini. “But that was last year and this is a new year. We will be looking to beat Leeds and progress.

“A good cup run is good for the club; we showed that last year in both cup competitions. We want to try to go as far as possible again. That will help us in the league too, I am sure. The FA Cup is very important to us. On Sunday we will be on the pitch trying to win and to move forward in the competition.”

On a personal level, the FA Cup is arguably even more important to Giaccherini. The little Italian is desperate for some match action to build up his sharpness after a frustrating first half of the campaign.

During the summer Gus Poyet had regularly praised the 29-year-old for his performances and suggested that he was like a new player for Sunderland. However, he missed the start of the season through injury, made his comeback but then suffered ankle trouble following a draw at Burnley on September 20.

He made his next comeback on Boxing Day as a substitute against Hull and has emerged from the bench at both Aston Villa and Manchester City since. Poyet is toying with the idea of giving him a bigger role against Championship side Leeds tomorrow.

“I hope to start on Sunday, I need to play more minutes and that is a good opportunity for me,” said Giaccherini. “I always like to play in the position where there is not always a place available. If the coach asks me to play 30 minutes there I will play 30 minutes, if he asks me to play 90 minutes I will play 90 minutes. I just want to play and take my chance.

“I have been disappointed not to play much because of injury because I was happy during the summer and looking forward to the season. I had that set-back with injury so now I need to play 90 minutes. Hopefully the FA Cup game will help me to do that.

“It was nice to come on and play again against Manchester City. I had a good run, I played well and I am happy with how I did. I would like more football now. But we need the results, the points, so we can move up the table by playing better. We will be looking to improve again on Sunday and treat the FA Cup well.”

At the Etihad, Sunderland had battled their way back from two goals down to level things up with 17 minutes remaining when Jack Rodwell and Adam Johnson both found the net.

But within a minute of the equaliser, the Premier League champions went on the offensive and Frank Lampard was allowed to head in Gael Clichy’s cross, meaning Sunderland collected just a point from their three games over the festive period.

Poyet’s team are now just three points above the relegation zone and there is a determination to eradicate the mistakes which are proving costly, despite improvements.

“We tried to draw at City, so we pushed on and once we equalised, they scored the winner,” said Giaccherini. “But we need to concentrate for 90 minutes and that showed after we equalised. We dropped our concentration.

“We should not have allowed them to go and score the winner so soon after. We do need to play football too, not just sit back like we did in the first half, because it is easier in games like Manchester City to try to play because there is the space to play in to. We showed we can attack when we tried to.”

Sunderland must start by making sure they pose problems for struggling Championship side Leeds first.