CHRIS LAKEY Roy Keane was a man of few words as he dissected Sunderland's 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road on Saturday.

CHRIS LAKEY

Roy Keane was a man of few words as he dissected Sunderland's 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road on Saturday.

The former Manchester United skipper - who restricted his feelings towards referees to a few glares at official Mike Riley during the game - said he believed the Black Cats deserved to take something back to the north-east.

“I think we deserved something out of the game, but that's the beauty of football I suppose, you don't always get what you deserve,” said Keane. “We have just got to lick our wounds and get ready for next week.”

Sunderland had plenty of possession but were lacking a killer touch in the final third, which they lived to regret.

“You have to take your chances,” Keane added. “We had one or two half chances in the first half, one or two half chances in the second half. It just seems to be going against us at this moment in time.

“I think the determination and the effort was there and at half-time I thought we were maybe comfortable. Obviously that's a dangerous word to use in football. Just when you think you are comfortable you get punished. Of course as you'd expect we had a go in the second half but we just lacked that final quality ball, which is the most important in football.”

Keane was convinced Sunderland had decent calls for a penalty with a little less than 20 minutes to go when sub Darly Murphy went down under pressure from Dion Dublin.

“Decent? I think so - but the referee has made a decision, you just have to get on with it. Murphy feels it definitely was a penalty but the ref has made a decision and we just have to get with it and accept it.”