Reading 2 Sunderland 1:Club officials and media were congregated in the basement of Reading's Madejski Stadium. The conversation had turned from the heartbreaking nature of Sunderland's defeat and the controversy wrapped up in Stephen Hunt's last-minute winner to more irreverent matters. There was laughter, banter.

Then Roy Keane walked past, slowly, deliberately, eyes unblinking, his face a mask. A switch seemed to be flicked. There was silence. Keane can have this effect. People who do not know him are wary in his presence - particularly after a defeat, and there have been plenty of those for Sunderland this season. His volcanic reputation from his playing days has preceded him into management.

Keane could have erupted on Saturday, when Steve Rubery, the linesman, was convinced he saw Stephen Hunt's shot from a tight angle cross the line before Craig Gordon, Sunderland's goalkeeper, clawed the ball clear. Rubery was the only person in the ground who was certain.

Sunderland had suffered the previous weekend, a refereeing decision ruling out a last-minute header, from their full-back Danny Collins for a push, that would have given them victory over Aston Villa. Keane, though, continued to keep his powder dry. He was deadpan, ruthlessly pragmatic. He says he relishes the cruelty of the Premier League and he was unhappy that Shane Long, the Reading substitute, had been allowed to penetrate the right side of his defence and cross for Hunt, so soon after Kenwyne Jones had won the penalty that suggested a previously unlikely point.

Keane's menace is understated these days but it is no less potent and his position and authority at Sunderland are not in question. The team cannot win away, they are now back in the relegation zone and, on Saturday's evidence, they are destined for a long struggle. Yet Keane is not a manager who need fear for his position.

Keane is not an easy person to look in the eye and take issue with and no one would bet against him winning his argument for fresh investment in the January transfer window. He is under pressure, like everybody in his line of work, but his reputation and personality have helped him to certain advantages.

"The statistic about sackings doesn't concern me one bit," he said. "If you get sacked, what is it, the end of the world, is it? It's not. Top managers have been sacked before. Brian Clough was sacked after 40-odd days at Leeds and he wasn't a bad manager was he?

"The best way to answer anybody, whether it be supporters, the media, is by winning football games and we're not doing that at the moment. But pressure? I wouldn't class it as pressure."

Sunderland face Keane's old club Manchester United at the Stadium of Light on St Stephen's Day eager to engineer a change of fortune but Reading are finding their rhythm. Their impressive home form has given them breathing space and Steve Coppell's only disappointment on Saturday was that they contrived unnecessary drama from a commanding position.

The Reading manager has fundamental issues with the transfer window. "We joined the EEC for freedom of movement of labour and the first thing we do in football is impose restrictions," he said. "I don't think it's even legal."

But having stood by the players that took the club to eighth place last season, Coppell now believes he needs "two or three reinforcements".

Keane once said it was dead fish that went with the flow. He will enter the January scramble, however, intent on keeping his head above water.