AFTER watching West Bromwich Albion's FA Cup exit to Middlesbrough in midweek, a satisfied Roy Keane feels Sunderland will pose a far greater threat to that offered by their North-East counterparts.

Keane was an interested observer at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night when the Baggies were forced through 120 minutes of gruelling cup football, followed by having to endure the mental strain of a nerve-jangling penalty shoot-out.

Immediately after Boro's win, Baggies boss Tony Mowbray cheekily claimed the happiest man in the ground that night would have been Keane.

But Keane, never one for mind games, feels there has been plenty recuperation time for Mowbray's squad ahead of today's promotion showdown, although the Irishman did deliver this warning.

"I just know we will cause them more problems than Middlesbrough did, certainly in the first half," said Keane.

"There were one or two small things I learned from watching them.

"He brought Jason Koumas off after 67 minutes and rightly so because his priority was Sunderland instead of Middlesbrough.

"West Brom have had three full days to recover and they've rested one or two regulars, so that'll have no effect on his players. The way he picked his side the other night shows promotion is his priority."

The two players 'rested' were strikers Kevin Phillips and Diomansy Kamara, although the latter did emerge as a second half substitute.

Phillips, Sunderland's post-war record goalscorer after scoring 113 times in his six years on Wearside, was not even included on the bench.

But the 34-year-old will be back in Mowbray's attack today.

And Keane, who was not around when chairman Niall Quinn tried to take him back to Sunderland in the summer, admits he would have liked to have had the former England international on board.

"Kevin's a natural goalscorer who did brilliantly for Sunderland," said Keane.

"We made one or two inquiries for him before he went to West Brom and Niall met up with him just before I got the job. It was unfortunate because he's a goal scorer and he's proven. He was rested in the week so I'm sure he'll be ready and raring to go.

"You have to take your hat off to the lads scoring goals for them. Sunderland fans obviously know a lot about Kevin Phillips, but Kamara will also be raring to go. We're in decent form defensively, so I'll be looking more to what we can do rather than the other way round."

After a draw with Birmingham and last Saturday's success over Derby, this is Sunderland's last of three crucial matches against sides from the top three.

And, having claimed four points so far, Keane feels the trip to The Hawthorns is the most difficult.

"Hardest of the three? I think so, with the way they've been playing, they've been scoring plenty of goals," he said.