Roy's left smiling as Stern hits late leveller

The Trinidad & Tobago striker pounced in the last minute to rob his former boss of a hard-fought triumph as Sunderland clawed themselves back into a game that seemed to have slipped away.

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But the late goal brought an accusation of foul play from the home manager as Keane was left to savour a point after his team twice came from behind in a thrilling second half.

Bruce was furious that referee Keith Stroud had failed to spot an infringement on his goalkeeper in the build-up to John's goal.

Thanks to Garry O'Connor's sweetly struck left-foot finish minutes earlier, the Geordie appeared to be bang on course for his first win back in the Premier League.

However, his ire was roused when Ross Wallace's deflected free-kick was palmed out brilliantly by Colin Doyle.

The keeper then appeared to be impeded by substitute Roy O'Donovan as he lay on the turf. Nyron Nosworthy headed the loose ball across the face of goal, allowing John to nod into an empty net.

Bruce said: "Going into a new Premier League season I was determined not to bleat about referees but their striker has jumped on my goalkeeper.

"If the referee hasn't seen it, then his assistant should have. I think the assistant was a Scouser. Well, he sounded like one, anyway.

"I'm disappointed because we looked comfortable for an hour. It was two competitive teams who were well organised having a good go at it. You can see Sunderland's confidence is sky-high. They've only been beaten once in six months, haven't they? You could see that."

Six months ago, Keane had cause to gnash his teeth as a late DJ Campbell goal robbed the Wearsiders of three points they thoroughly deserved when the two teams met in the Championship.

After last Saturday's late, late show at the Stadium of Light, the Irishman was not surprised that lightning struck again at St Andrew's.

An injury to Carlos Edwards after Keane had used his three substitutes meant Sunderland were one man light when John struck.

The manager said: "I don't think it's a coincidence that we are scoring so many late goals. We hit the crossbar when we were down to 10 men and I thought that was the chance lost.

"It wasn't the greatest performance but it was one of drive and determination. I knew Stern would score as a picture is still here in the corridor near the dressing room of him scoring for Birmingham. I was confident he would score. But I thought he'd missed his chance when that one hit the crossbar."

John had directed one header against the woodwork as the game entered its final stages.

Until then, it looked like O'Connor had stepped off the substitutes' bench and out of the Russian wilderness to cover himself in glory.

The Scot, signed from Lokomotiv Moscow for £2.65million during the summer, profited when selfless work from Mikael Forssell and Olivier Kapo ended with him working a shooting chance. With Paul McShane haring in to block, he cut inside before slamming a low shot into the bottom corner.

The goal was certainly well received in the directors' box — among the hosts' party, anyway. Carson Yeung, the Hong Kongbased billionaire who has just snapped up a 29.9 per cent shareholding in the club, was watching his first game after handing over £15m for his stake.

It looked at that time as if Keane — a day earlier, he launched a tirade against footballers' wives and girlfriends — had chosen the worst time possible to question women's roles in football.

He came within a whisker of ending up with egg on his face at a club under the direction of the self-proclaimed First Lady of the English game, Karren Brady, for 14 years.

Until 20 minutes from time it appeared as though Paul McShane's first-half own goal would be sufficient for the hosts.

The centre half inadvertently chested Stephen Kelly's header from Sebastian Larsson's freekick past Craig Gordon.

There was little to choose between both sides until Birmingham's defence made a hash of clearing a long ball. Michael Chopra slammed a superb shot into the roof of the net to throw the match back in the balance.

A few pundits questioned the wisdom of handing £5m to Cardiff City for the striker's services.

"We hope Michael will have a big influence," added Keane. "In the past two games, he's had two chances and scored twice. If he keeps that rate up, I'll be delighted.

"The performance was halfexpected. I tried to freshen it up. But the sharpness wasn't there. That sometimes happens when you have such a big build-up like the one we had to the Tottenham game."

BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-4-2): Doyle 6; Parnaby 6, Djourou 8, Ridgewell 7, Kelly 7; Larsson 6, Muamba 7, Nafti 7, McSheffrey 5 (O'Connor 65min, 7); Kapo 6, Forssell 6 (Jerome 85).

Booked: Doyle.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon 5; Halford 6 (O'Donovan 71, 5), Nosworthy 5, McShane 6, Collins 5; Edwards 6, Whitehead 6 (Miller 58, 5), Etuhu 5, Wallace 5; Connolly 5 (John 58, 6), Chopra 6.

Booked: Etuhu.

Man of the match: Johan Djourou.

Referee: Keith Stroud.