ROY Keane has received support from one of his North East rivals, with Gareth Southgate backing the underfire Black Cats’ manager to arrest their recent decline.

The Boro boss empathises with Keane’s plight and believes his counterpart on Wearside has the strength of character to turn around a slump that’s dragged Sunderland into the Premier League relegation spots.

“We are all going to have days where you want to curl up under the duvet and hide.

But the type of lad Roy is I would imagine that he would want to fight,’’ said Southgate, who holds the firebrand Sunderland manager in high regard.

“I’m sure Roy has the mental strength to come through what some people will call a crisis at Sunderland.

“I don’t know him well enough, but I would look at his career and say that he is more than capable of dealing with anything that is thrown at him.

“You speak as you find people but I get on fine with Roy – although I haven’t worked with him he is someone I have great respect for. He has a winning mentality and had tremendous ability as a player.’’ Sunderland supporters streamed toward the exits after only an hour of Saturday’s defeat, but Southgate is confident that an upturn in results will win over disgruntled elements at the Stadium of Light.

“In the end the only way to get the support of the fans is through getting results. You need the support of the chairman, that’s for certain, but it’s a tough industry and there are a lot of young managers learning their trade in a very public environment,” said the Boro boss who has enjoyed enviable backing from Boro chairman Steve Gibson.

“We can see how tight the division is. Stuart Pearce said to me a few years ago that it’s like pass-the-parcel and when the music stops you don’t want to be the one left holding it. Every Saturday it seems to be somebody else.’’ And after guiding his team to an emphatic 4-1 victory on Wearside, Bolton manager Gary Megson urged Sunderland supporters to keep faith with the man who’s been key to the club’s recent transformations.

“I think if somebody had looked when Roy came to the club, 100 games ago, that Sunderland would be losing at home to Bolton but where they are in the Premier League then they’d have accepted that at the time,’’ he said. “If you look now all they need is a good result, maybe a draw after that and suddenly everything in the garden looks rosy again.

“Roy’s done a great job at Sunderland. I don’t know where they were when he took over the club but I know they were towards the lower reaches of the Championship.

“But I think it’s more than that. The way that Sunderland are now viewed compared to how they were viewed before Roy came to the club is entirely different. The Keane factor really is that important to Sunderland.

“And that’s purely and simply due to him coming. Right now they’re not getting the results.

It’s a great club and everybody enjoys coming here. The supporters are up there with Newcastle’s and having Roy as manager is a big, big positive for them.

“Roy will do the right things. He’ll keep his head and not panic. They’ll be fine, I’m sure.

“Sunderland aren’t in an exclusive club of one. From the top five down there’s a relegation battle going on.”

Sunderland’s reserves are in action tomorrow night, when they take on Manchester Utd, at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground at Hetton, kick off 7pm.

And Sunderland’s FA Youth Cup third-round tie against Cirencester Town will take place on Thursday at the Stadium of Light, kicking off at 7pm.