SUNDERLAND boosted their hopes of gaining automatic promotion to the Barclays Premiership with a crucial win at The Hawthorns yesterday as they moved level on points with Tony Mowbray's side. First-half goals from Dwight Yorke and Stern John extended the Black Cats unbeaten league run to 10 games from which they have collected 26 points.

They are now only three points behind leaders Derby and have a momentum under Roy Keane which suggests they will be difficult to stop between now and the end of the season. Corkman Keane came up with the perfect tactics to stifle the normally freeflowing Baggies, defending with two solid banks of four and hitting the home side on the counter-attack.

Only in the final quarter did Albion gain any sort of momentum after Mowbray had made a triple substitution but Darren Carter's second strike in successive matches proved in vain as their eightgame unbeaten league run came to an end. To add to their misery Albion defender Paul Robinson was sent off with three minutes remaining for a foul on David Connolly although there appeared to be no contact.

After 24 minutes the Black Cats went ahead through Yorke's fourth goal of the campaign. Danny Simpson cut in from the right wing before playing the ball into the feet of John and his first time flick found Yorke who side-footed the ball past Dean Kiely into the corner of the net.

Five minutes into the second period Sunderland doubled their lead with John's third goal since his move from Coventry in January. The Albion marking was non existent from an inswinging corner by Dean Whitehead to leave John with a free header at the far post - and he made no mistake.

Then sub Darren Carter gave Albion a life-line when he hooked the ball past Ward from the edge of the box after Jonny Evans had only half cleared with 18 minutes remaining. But Connolly should have wrapped the points up only for Kiely to keep out his header at point blank range. Then came the harsh red card for Robinson before Sunderland celebrated with their 2,600 travelling fans at the final whistle. Elsewhere in the league Mick McCarthy's young Wolves side performed courageously to win 3-2 against Luton.

If Keane does lead Sunderland back to the Premiership it seems likely he'll be handed �25m for new players. It is understood that Black Cats chairman Niall Quinn and his Drumaville consortium would sanction the funding for Keane to pursue a string of top targets.

Tottenham striker Robbie Keane and Liverpool frontman Craig Bellamy, as well as Manchester United's veteran goal-poacher Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, would be on the hit-list.

Sunderland manager Keane would also have his sights on United defender John O'Shea and Celtic's Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen.

Keane believes it was his "destiny'' to take charge of Sunderland. He said. "I'm aware of the huge level of expectancy. The fans keep telling me where we are going. I think the fans know we are heading in the right direction and making progress. Where we will end up, who knows?

"Every day brings a new challenge and that's what I like. That's why I took the Sunderland job. I had other clubs on to me before I took this job and I said, 'Not in a million years.' But Sunderland gave me the feeling that they could go up and had the potential. As a player, I was destined to play for Nottingham Forest, destined to go to United, destined to have one or two months at Celtic - and I think Sunderland is part of my destiny.''