ROY KEANE last night revealed how passing a picture of Stern John scoring for Birmingham inside St Andrew's was the over-riding reason why the forward was handed the opportunity to grab a last-minute equaliser for Sunderland.

After a toothless performance from the Black Cats, the Trinidad & Tobago striker was asked to save his side from defeat by his manager by emerging as a substitute just before the hour mark with City a goal up.

And, after Garry O'Connor had regained Birmingham's one-goal advantage following Michael Chopra's stunning equaliser, John grabbed a controversial leveller from close range.

While opposite number Steve Bruce was complaining about the goal, Keane was happy to heap praise on his striker.

"I knew Stern would score, there is a picture of him scoring for Birmingham in the corridors here," said Keane, who has had a £2m bid rejected by Middlesbrough for former Wearside favourite Julio Arca.

"I knew when I saw that, that Stern would score. I could tell just by looking at the picture.

"A lot of players go back and they have a tendency to score. I was confident."

Bruce sold John to Coventry in 2004 and regards the striker as 'an old favourite' of his time in charge at St Andrew's, although that did not dampen his fury.

Keane's former Old Trafford team-mate was incensed at the way Sunderland debutant Roy O'Donovan appeared to foul Birmingham keeper Colin Doyle in the build up to the late equaliser.

Doyle, who had made an exceptional save to thwart Ross Wallace's deflected free-kick seconds earlier, was still grounded when John turned in Nyron Nosworthy's nod down from close range.

And Bruce said: "The centre-forward has jumped on my goalkeeper, stopped him from getting up. Everyone has seen it.

"The referee, Keith Stroud, and the linesman have missed it. It's cost us dearly. I don't want to berate referees but we believe there was a blatant foul.

"For me the referee has missed it. If he has the linesman should at least have seen it. O'Donovan is manhandling him basically, but there you go."

Given how the victory over Tottenham was also decided in the final moments and that so many goals were scored late in the Championship last season, Keane feels it is no coincidence because of the fitness levels of his players.

That this result was secured despite being without Carlos Edwards for the final seven minutes highlighted the fact even more. Edwards had to go off with a hamstring problem and will almost certainly be out of Saturday's trip to Wigan.

Keane said: "Carlos has a damaged hamstring. I probably should have took him off earlier. I got that wrong."

New Zealand trialist Jack Pelter is believed to have been handed a one-year contract on Wearside. The 19-year-old defender, who played in the pre-season defeat at Scunthorpe, does not require a work permit as he was born in Cumbria.

And Keane continues to make moves towards strengthening his squad in other areas, particularly in the forward line having almost certainly missed out on Mido.

But he admits it will be a few games before he is clear in his mind about how far Sunderland can go this season.

"I wish I knew," he said. "That's why people come back to watch us. People either want to see us fall flat or keep on going.

"But the sharpness was not here tonight and that's what happens after such a big weekend like we had. But the fact they came back and still got a point out of this pleased me."