Roy Keane was understandably disappointed at the result, as hard-working Sunderland lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea.

John Terry's headed goal from Frank Lampard's 10th minute corner was the difference between the relegation battlers and the title challengers, and the Sunderland boss was more frustrated at the way Chelsea got that corner to begin with.

Keane said: "I'm disappointed with the result, it was a sloppy goal we give away from a needless corner.

"We never quite recovered and as Chelsea have done many times before, they're quite good at set-pieces. It's a good delivery, big strong men attacking the ball, but I thought the players' reaction over the 90 minutes, their performance, was brilliant.

"I didn't think it was a penalty (the John Terry "foul" on Roy O'Donovan that came two minutes before the goal) - I don't think it's a day for looking at decisions that went against us, the referee got it right.

"We have to play with that intensity and commitment to the club all the time. I thought we played some good stuff today. We had chances, over the last few weeks we've not really been creating chances, but we had opportunities today. Chelsea took their chance, we didn't take ours, and that's why they're going for titles and the European Cup.

"There's lots of pluses today. Reidy has got another game under his belt, although he maybe tired towards the end. Carlos, another hour for him, and Roy O'Donovan - so there's lots of pluses.

"We played really well as a team today. I thought everyone, the subs when they came on, played their part - it's very rare that you lose a game at home and get applauded off the pitch, so that was great credit to our supporters for that.

"We had a good few chances. Kenwyne towards the end, Deano's had a shot, but we can talk all day about what's happened in the game, it's what happens in both boxes - they've had a really good chance, John Terry took it. We've had ours and not taken them, and that's football in a nutshell, it's not rocket science.

"I'm sure the Chelsea manager will be happy winning 1-0, a lot of these top teams are capable of winning 1-0, and that's the difference. I analyse it and look at our own players and our performance and, as I said, we showed some quality today.

"I'm happy with the players. You have to get the balance right and today we had a decent balance to us and credit to the players for that. If we keep persevering from now until the end of the season, I'm pretty sure we'll be fine."