Sunderland's cup defeat at Arsenal will only intensify the Black Cats' hunger to climb back towards the Premier League, according to Lynden Gooch.
Sunderland's Carabao Cup adventure came to an end on Tuesday night as they lost 5-1 against the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium.
But despite the scoreline, the League One Wearsiders earned immense credit for the way they approached the game against a side sitting in the top four of the Premier League, with Nathan Broadhead's first-half strike - which brought the scoreline back to 2-1 - the first that Arsenal had conceded in this season's competition.
Only four-and-a-half years ago, this was a Premier League fixture with Sunderland losing 2-0 in North London in May 2017, and Gooch is the only player still at the club who was involved in that game, coming on as a late substitute.
Since then, Sunderland have suffered two relegations but they are now mounting a strong promotion challenge and Gooch says thieir midweek performance against one of the elite will act as a spur as they look to climb back into the Championship.
"I thought we did ourselves proud," he said.
"Obviously we were disappointed with the goals we conceded but Arsenal are a top level team and one of the best in the Premier League so we just have to be proud of what we have achieved to get this far in the competition.
"I'm glad we scored a goal so the fans could celebrate.
"I'm pleased with the way we imposed ourselves at times in the first half. We played some really good football at times.
"But Arsenal are at the top level and they are so clinical.
"It makes you hungry to achieve success this season and go up to the next division.
"It's great experience, playing against top, top players, and hopefully it will make us hungry to get better and reach that level."
Sunderland took more than 5,000 travelling fans to the Emirates, and they backed their team to the hilt.
Gooch said: "They were outstanding.
"They were brilliant all night, and after the game too.
"It was great to see so many of our fans there."
Sunderland now have a few days over Christmas to regroup and prepare before their League One campaign resumes on Monday lunchtime at next-to-bottom Doncaster Rovers, with the third-placed Black Cats keen to extend their unbeaten run to eight league games and keep the pressure on the top two.
Gooch said: "We have to rest and recover and be ready to go again at Doncaster now.
"It's a big game, so hopefully we can move on and pick up three points at Donny."
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