O'Leary fury as Leeds are grounded

Sunderland manager Peter Reid said: 'It was a wonderful strike. He has been great since he got back. There is no problem. He has been terrific and bubbly.'

The victory ended Sunderland's run of 11 consecutive defeats against Leeds - but if Keane, who ran himself into the ground in Iran, had taken one chance and been awarded what seemed a deserved penalty, the result could have been different. Keane's brief break from the shackles of Williams to race on to David Batty's wonderful through pass presented him with an opportunity to beat Thomas Sorensen but he hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper.

It was easily the best opportunity of a frantic first half and two minutes after the restart Sunderland had taken the lead.

Jason McAteer's shot from the right seemed as speculative as anything else he and his team-mates had tried so far but England goal-keeper Nigel Martyn parried the ball into the path of Julio Arca, who made no mistake.

After Phillips had added his seventh of the season, Keane was denied again, this time by the trailing leg of Bernt Haas.

Reid, Leeds manager David O'Leary, Keane and most of the 48,000 crowd thought it was a penalty. Referee Graham Barber thought otherwise and booked the Irishman for diving. Barber also missed a stamp by Sunderland defender Emerson Thome on Alan Smith, who was booked for a nasty tackle on Haas.

O'Leary, who now takes his side to Switzerland and Thursday's UEFA Cup tie with Grasshopper, said: 'We've done as well as we can at this point of the season. We are pushing the players and extending them and I have no complaints about where we are.'

Sunderland's win lifts the pressure on Reid, who seems to be bringing out the best in McAteer. The former Blackburn winger, another Ireland hero who will be heading to the Far East next summer, put in another eye-catching performance for his new club.

Reid said: 'He has been outstanding and his quality has surprised me. He has done better than I thought he would.'