Keane plays it cool as Sunderland slip at Reading

But while it may seem outrageous to suggest that Keane is under pressure, the fact remains that Sunderland's controversial defeat saw them slip back into the bottom three.

Scroll down for more

Fine line: Hunt celebrates his controversial winner

Keane felt his side deserved a point, with TV technology unable to confirm that Stephen Hunt's 92nd-minute winner crossed the line.

But dodgy decisions aside, Reading were good value for their win, while Sunderland's first-half display should certainly raise the alarm.

Relegation concerns in the boardrooms of fellow strugglers Fulham, Wigan and Derby have seen the managers of all three handed their P45s.

So is Keane concerned?

"No, it doesn't bother me one bit," he insisted.

"If you get sacked, is it the end of the world? 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 of answering anybody is winning games. And we're not doing that at the moment. But pressure? I wouldn't class it as pressure."

In Niall Quinn, Keane is fortunate enough to have a true football man as chairman who remains indebted to his manager for his remarkable achievements last season.

The fact Quinn is ready to put up a £25million transfer kitty next month is testament to his continued support.

If Quinn and his Irish backers need any further evidence of the benefit of standing by your man, then the job Steve Coppell has done at Reading is proof.

Reading chairman John Madejski will give his manager money next month but Coppell insisted he will struggle to compete with the likes of Sunderland.

"We suffer to a certain extent because we're not a big club and don't have a wealth of tradition," said Coppell.

"We know our market and it's really small."

If Coppell can continue to unearth such gems as Dave Kitson and Hunt, financial muscle will not be a concern.

Kitson's link play was a joy to behold while Hunt's pace and energy were a constant worry to Sunderland.

Having seen Craig Gordon pull off a fine reflex save to deny him, Hunt then rattled a post with a 25-yarder.

The breakthrough eventually came on 69 minutes when Hunt won a dubious free-kick on the right.

Nicky Shorey's delivery found Ibrahima Sonko's head and Gordon could only palm the ball into the path of Ivar Ingimarsson who tapped home from three yards.

Sunderland equalised when the slightest of contacts from Sonko sent Kenwyne Jones tumbling in the box and Michael Chopra converted the penalty with eight minutes remaining.

As the finish became more frantic, Dean Whitehead even lost his temper with Reading's mascot, Kingsley the lion, as he ran out of play.

And Keane was left fuming when, deep into added time, Hunt directed substitute Shane Long's cross goalwards.

Gordon clawed the ball away but linesman Steve Rubery awarded the goal.