ROY KEANE will lock horns with the mild-mannered Gareth Southgate warning onlookers not to be fooled by the apparent differences between the two men.

The Sunderland manager and his Middlesbrough counterpart could hardly have been more different on the pitch, one exhorting his team-mates on with eye-bulging ferocity and the other calmly marshalling his troops with the minimum of fuss.

However, Keane knows the air of calm exuded by his opposite number today belies the passion and hunger for success which has fuelled his career.

The Corkman and his English counterpart head into the vital derby clash between the two clubs at the Stadium of Light knowing victory for either could cement their place in the Premier League and make life distinctly uncomfortable for the loser.

Both clubs are coming off the back of depressing defeats, Sunderland at the home of arch-rivals Newcastle United and Middlesbrough on their own park at the hands of Bolton Wanderers, who seemed doomed just a few weeks ago. But if the game has anything to do with the respective managers, it will unfold as a no-holds-barred battle.

Keane said: "Gareth had a very good career and you shouldn't be fooled by Gareth. He was a different character to me as a player, but then again everybody is, we are all different.

"Gareth had a very good career. He was a very determined lad who played for his country and won trophies and all credit to Gareth for that. But we all have our own paths to go down. Everybody is different, thank God.

"It would be boring if we were all the same, wouldn't it?"

Keane, like Southgate, was thrown straight in at the deep end when he launched his management career, and admits the studies he completed for his coaching badges in advance - Southgate will finish his in the next year or so - have proved invaluable.

However, no amount of certificates could prepare a manager for the task both men face today as they attempt to ease their clubs clear of the fight for survival.

No coaching course would have prepared Keane for the loss of key defender Phil Bardsley for the rest of the season with a knee injury which will require surgery on Monday.

Jonny Evans, who, like his former United team-mate, missed the trip to Newcastle, remains a major doubt with a hamstring problem.

But a philosophical Keane insists any problems must be put to one side, and that his players must respond to their latest challenge as they have done all season.

He said: "We have had setbacks, and that's why my players deserve a lot of credit for where they are in the league, believe it or not, because despite the injuries and one or two decisions by officials, with three games to go, we are five points clear of the third-bottom team.

"I think we would have taken that a few months ago."