Tony Mowbray recalls the day he talked his way into Sunderland and Roy Keane's bad books as West Brom boss

Tony Mowbray grins broadly when it's brought up: he knows what's coming next. It was the day he drew the ire of Roy Keane, so much so that he even landed a special mention in his subsequent book 'The Second Half', which brilliantly charts his exhilarating tenure as Sunderland boss.

It was, as Keane explains, a hugely significant win. Goals from Dwight Yorke and Stern John secured a 2-1 win that ended a long unbeaten run for Mowbray's Baggies and significantly bolstered Sunderland's own promotion ambitions.

As Keane said himself in the book: "We were taking off. I remember thinking, 'My god, we might actually go up."

Mowbray's own press conference after the game provided its own fuel for the weeks ahead, as the then West Brom boss insisted his side would finish higher in the table.

"I found out that Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager, had been talking cr*p after the game, as managers do.... I felt he was quite dismissive of us, and me. I was annoyed about that because we'd deserved the win; we played well."

For Mowbray, his goal had been to give his team belief that they could get the job done despite the setback. Though he hasn't yet had the chance, the Sunderland head coach is hoping one day to chat properly with one of his favourite pundits.

"I love Roy Keane - I don't know him but I love watching him," he recalled this week.

"He strikes me as someone who has a really high value set, he's from a world where he expects the best and everyone to work as hard as was.

"One of my best mates Garry Pallister knows him very well and says what a nice guy is. I'd love to spend some time with him - I feel like I know where he's coming from and those high standards and values are ones I've tried to live by. I did almost get a chance to speak to him when he was assistant boss at Nottingham Forest, but as I was going into the office he walked straight past me!

"On that day, I was trying to give my team belief and confidence after a defeat. So I said something along the lines of, 'if that's the best they've got we'll finish above them.'

"Roy didn't like the fact I was commenting on his team and I think I made it into his book. We lost the game, but I wanted my players to feel we were the better team."

West Brom would go on to lose in the play-off final to Derby County that season, but won the title next year as Kevin Phillips scored 22 goals. Mowbray's bond with West Brom off the back of that campaign remains strong, and he was back at the club for a celebration dinner on Thursday night.

The end goal is for more of those high stakes, promotion-defining games on Wearside in the future.