ROY Keane has claimed the Championship promotion race will be just like last night's 1-1 draw with Birmingham - it will go right to the wire.

DJ Campbell's 90th-minute leveller deprived Sunderland of what would have been a deserved success at St Andrew's, and prevented the Black Cats from climbing to within three points of second-placed West Brom in an automatic promotion place.

The Blues remain four points clear of the Wearsiders, with two games in hand, and leaders Derby will open up a nine-point cushion if they beat Stoke at Pride Park this evening.

But while Keane admits the long-term pace-setters remain the favourites to avoid the lottery of the play-offs, he also feels that Sunderland will be in there fighting come the final throes of the campaign.

"I think it will go to the wire," said the Black Cats boss. "I think it will be nip and tuck right to the last game of the season. We have been playing catch-up all along and I still think the likes of Birmingham and Derby are clear favourites to go up.

"We have only been in the play-offs for a few days and we need to cement that and make sure we punish the teams above us if there are any slip-ups."

The former Republic of Ireland international refused to be too down-hearted despite Campbell's last-gasp leveller ending a run of four successive clean sheets.

Carlos Edwards' wonder-strike had given Sunderland a deserved first-half lead, but Stern John and Dwight Yorke both spurned presentable opportunities to make the game safe before Birmingham's dramatic late rally.

"I'm okay," claimed Keane. "When you watch a game and you're 1-0 up, you always know there's a chance you might concede. It was one of those nights when we needed a second goal to finish them off. It never came and, the longer the game went on, the more we needed it.

"We've done it to enough teams to know that at 1-0 you always have a chance. I think we had the chances to kill the game off but, when you don't take them, they can come back to hurt you.

"If we had got the second goal, I think we would have gone on to win the game comfortably, but the effort was there from all the players and I'm delighted with them.

"They're obviously disappointed to have conceded right at the end, but that's football. It doesn't matter whether you concede in the first minute or the last."

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce conceded that his side had been second best for the majority of last night's game, and the North-Easterner praised his former Manchester United colleague for turning Sunderland around since replacing Niall Quinn in September.

"Roy has got a team together that has every chance (of promotion)," said Bruce. "I've seen them change in six months under Roy. It's a different Sunderland to the one I saw at the start of the season and it's all credit to him. He deserves a pat on the back."

* Sunderland have frozen their season-ticket prices for next season, provided supporters apply before April 5. Existing season-ticket holders wishing to renew their seat for the 2007/08 season, or new supporters wanting to purchase a season pass, can do so at current Championship prices, even if the Black Cats win promotion.