SUNDERLAND WERE such a transformed team after the interval, it was tempting to picture Roy Keane spending the break hurling teacups.Not a bit of it. Fifteen miles down the road from where he first made his name as a tearaway tearing strips off his own team-mates, Keane was calmness personified as he made his managerial bow. Not even having a fourth official from Derbyshire tell him he had to withstand five added minutes for a debut victory could rile the new Sunderland manager.
Trailing to Matt Oakley’s whiplashed shot in first-half stoppage time, Keane strode down the tunnel but did not change his team talk, saying, he reported “very little”.
Robbie Elliott, the Sunderland defender, said: “There were no teacups flying around. He just said, ‘Keep passing and playing because the game is there to win. Believe in yourselves’. ” The minimalist briefing worked as Sunderland regained the initiative to win their second successive match.
“He’s one of the top names in world football,” Elliott said. “He’s obviously got a vast knowledge of football and when he talks, everyone sits and listens. There’s no ranting and raving; it’s just pure common sense. I played against him a few times and he wasn’t a nice man. He was a fantastic player, but a nasty piece of work to play against. He’s always been a winner.”
One restrained 90 minutes does not make Keane a saint, but the added responsibility of management will make him think. “It felt a bit strange thinking more about the team and the team talk, rather than as a player when you’re just thinking about yourself, but that’s just something to get used to,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I rehearsed the team talk. It wasn’t as if I stood in front of a mirror.”
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Sunderland, fielding five debutants, spent the first half trying to recognise one another. Steve Howard crashed a 25-yard shot against the bar as Derby sensed that Keane’s aura did not make Sunderland invincible and it was the striker who headed down Mo Camara’s cross from the left for Oakley to score. Keane did not budge. He was on his feet, though, when Graham Kavanagh played a one-two with Ross Wallace and crossed for Chris Brown to score at the second attempt. The 4,700 travelling supporters crooned “There’s only one Keano” as Wallace scored barely 90 seconds later. The manager punched the air and not even excessive time added on could deny him a winning start.
Derby County (4-4-2): S Bywater — M Edworthy (sub: A Bolder, 89min), D Leacock, M Johnson, M Camara — A Lupoli, M Oakley, G Barnes, R Smith — P Peschisolido (sub: S Johnson, 57), S Howard. Substitutes not used: L Grant, R Malcolm, L Nyatanga. Booked: Edworthy. FORM LLDWLD NEXT: Wolverhampton Wanderers (a)
Sunderland (4-4-2): B Alnwick — R Delap, K Cunningham, S Varga, R Elliott ��� L Miller, G Kavanagh, D Whitehead, R Wallace — D Connolly (sub: S Elliott, 84), C Brown. Substitutes not used: D Ward, T Hysen, G Leadbitter, N Collins. Booked: Varga, Brown, Wallace, Delap, Kavanagh. FORM WWLLLL NEXT Leeds United (a)