Hunt: the Maradona of the Madejski

ROY Keane does not believe he is immune from the sacking virus that has swept through the Premier League but has not yet reached the north-east. After all, it happened to Brian Clough, the first great manager to give him a platform.

But it is that other iconic figure that now looms the largest in his thoughts following the 2-1 defeat at Reading. The St Stephen’s Day visit of Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United side will kick off with Sunderland in one of the relegation places.

Given that Keane has spent heavily since capping his first managerial season with promotion — his goalkeeper cost €13.5million alone — it is not inconceivable that such generous backers might follow the examples already set by the boards of Bolton, Derby, Wigan and most recently Fulham in a season where seven top-flight clubs have so far changed horses in mid-stream.

“No, it doesn’t bother me one bit,” he insisted. “It could be 70 managers losing their jobs over the last few months and years here and in the Championship. It doesn’t concern me. If you get sacked, what 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?”

Given that there is little indication that the people who hired him in the first place, Niall Quinn and the Drumaville Consortium, are about to lose their nerve, Keane can continue to spend next month. Certainly he needs to. His players possess the work ethic that took him to the top but the ones with the other attributes, his Old Trafford team-mates Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, are now over the hill.

In the end it was a fellow Irishman who made Keane’s visit to Berkshire an unhappy one, although the fans blamed referee Steve Tanner and linesman Steve Rubery for Stephen Hunt’s last-minute winner.

With the recalled Michael Chopra having cancelled out Ivar Ingimarsson’s tap-in opener with a cool finish from the penalty spot, Sunderland, having been second best for 70 minutes, suddenly realised they were on the verge of that long-awaited victory beyond the Stadium of Light.

The opportunity to turn that into reality came to Kenwyne Jones, who had won the penalty. But when presented with the option of trying to apply the coup de grace himself or set up substitute Anthony Stokes for an easier chance he chose the former and saw home goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann block with his legs.

That was merely to protect a point but after substitute Shane Long had launched one last attack Hunt conjured up a most controversial winner with a shot that the officials ruled had crossed the line despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Craig Gordon. Cue controversy and the endless scrutiny of television replays.

If Sunderland did not deserve such a fate then at least Hunt received his just desserts. The winger, switched from the left to the right for the occasion, showed exactly why Keane and now Everton would like to sign him with a typically buzzing performance and also hit a post with a swerving shot.

Manager Steve Coppell is a man of few words but Hunt will be sure to appreciate the ones he did choose. “Good players can play anywhere,” he said. “They prefer specialist positions but if you put Maradona on the right wing he would do a fair old job.”

The Maradona of the Madejski? Well, he already has the hairstyle...

READING (4-4-2): Hahnemann 7, Murty 6, Sonko 6, Ingimarsson 7, Shorey 6, Hunt 8, Harper 7, Gunnarsson 6, Convey 7 (Long 84, 6), Doyle 6, Kitson 7.

Subs Not Used: Federici, Cisse, Lita, Bikey.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon 6, Whitehead 6, McShane 6, Higginbotham 6, Collins 6, Chopra 7 (Stokes 87, 5), Yorke 6, Leadbitter 6, Murphy 6 (Wallace 62, 5), Jones 7, Cole 5 (Etuhu 62, 5).

Subs Not Used: Ward, Harte.

REFEREE: Steve Tanner (Somerset) 5: Had two huge calls to make. May have actually got Sunderland’s penalty wrong although it looked spot-on at the time. But Hunt’s goal?

MATCH RATING: *** Disappointingly patchy overall but the incident-packed final 20 minutes more than made up for that.