Sunderland pay for missed chances

The Irishman saw his side take a deserved lead through Danny Higginbotham's first goal for the club after passing up a series of earlier opportunities, and was off his seat as former Magpie Michael Chopra powered a header against the crossbar with eight minutes remaining.

However, by then James Milner had levelled when his 65th-minute cross crept inside Craig Gordon's far post to punish the Wearsiders for their profligacy, and Keane said: "If we keep missing the chances we did, it is very hard to win any game. But I am pleased with the performance and the attitude of the players and the spirit with which they played."

He added: "The priority for any derby match is certainly don't lose it, and we did not do that, so we will take the pluses."

Newcastle boss Allardyce was delighted to end a run of two successive defeats and a three-game wait for a point on the road.

He said: "I am not bothered whether we were fortunate or not. You just don't lose a derby and we haven't, which is very, very important indeed.

"Under the circumstances when our away form in our last two games was very poor, it was important to put that right, and we had to put it right in a game like this which we could not afford to lose.

"We came back from a goal down as well, which is the first time we have got back into a game from a goal down and got something out of the game away from home this season."

A competitive encounter almost boiled over just before the break when Joey Barton and Dickson Etuhu clashed after a late challenge by the Newcastle man, although Keane was unconcerned.

He said: "I am not going to get bogged down by a tackle that was slightly high. That happens in these games, a lot of them are mistimed. You give and you take. Dickson is a tough lad. He is alive in that dressing room, he won't be leaving on a stretcher."