On This Day (21st April 2007): Keane Vows To Respond After Unbeaten Run Ends!

23/09/2006 - Coca Cola Championship - Ipswich Town v Sunderland, Sunderland manager Roy Keane looks on anxiously. (Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside via Getty Images) | Offside via Getty Images All good things must come to an end at some stage and despite a run of seventeen games undefeated, I recall a sense of panic and slight frustration that did surround the 3-1 defeat to Colchester United on this day in 2007. This sense of frustration wasn’t some irrational outrage that we lost a game after a fabulous run of form but rather a sense of insecurity that a defeat had occurred at what could be the worst possible time on the journey of our quest for promotion to the Premier League.

This was the third-last game of the season and with Sunderland fighting with Derby County and Birmingham City for an automatic promotion position after a sensational run of form after Christmas, even one defeat such as this could derail things significantly. Credit to Colchester – they were due full credit for their 3-1 win on this occasion where they used the intimate surroundings of Layer Road to their advantage and equally refused to be intimidated by the sideline presence of Roy Keane too. Whilst this was a poor defeat for us, it still took two late goals from Jamie Cureton and Richard Garcia to give the home side the victory and leave us seeking three points at home to Burnley the following week to try to secure promotion back to the Premier League.

One would be forgiven for thinking that this would be the ideal situation for Keane to produce one of his infamous dressing-room tantrums or bust-ups but when he spoke to the media, the Corkman displayed a more mild-mannered and measured tone insisting there was nothing to panic about and it was all in our hands. “We’re disappointed to lose but it’s still in our hands and we’ll try and bounce back next week. “When we got back to 1-1 we thought we could get something from the game but it wasn’t to be.

“I have no problem with the effort and desire we showed and you have to give credit to the opposition. ” Even if he was tormented inside, Keane’s calmness in the title run-in surely played an enormous role in keeping his players grounded. His previous knowledge of situations like this would have been seen as massively reassuring and Keane’s defender, Danny Collins echoed his manager’s comments, insisting that they wanted to ‘right the wrongs’ of the Colchester game at the Stadium of Light.