GIVEN that it was Pancake Day on Tuesday, perhaps it was only fitting that Sunderland battered Birmingham for the best part of 70 minutes, only to toss away the chance of closing in on an automatic promotion spot by conceding a last-gasp leveller to DJ Campbell.

Nevertheless, striker Stern John last night claimed that the current Black Cats side was still "infinitely superior" to the Sunderland line-up that had allowed him to score a second-half goal of his own on the opening day of the season.

John was still a Coventry City player when his 71st-minute strike helped to condemn Niall Quinn-led Sunderland to a 2-1 defeat at the Ricoh Arena last August.

Since then, he has become one of more than a dozen new recruits to have arrived at the Stadium of Light following Quinn's decision to stand aside in favour of current boss Roy Keane.

The former Manchester United skipper has totally transformed Sunderland's fortunes and, despite Campbell's midweek intervention having exposed a rare reluctance to kill a game off, John insists the Wearsiders are now a far tougher proposition than the soft-centred outfit that slipped to four successive defeats at the start of the season.

"I played against Sunderland at the start of the season and the team I am playing for now is a totally different side," said the Trinidad & Tobago international, who has scored two goals in his first four games as a Black Cat.

"The manager has come in and assembled an entirely new squad, with a very different group of players.

"When I played against Sunderland for Coventry at the start of the season, they seemed like something of a team in transition. Now, I think we're starting to look like a team who can really go places.

"The manager seems to have so many more options, and all of the players are playing with a lot of confidence. We are a much better team than the one I played against, trust me on that."

It certainly looked that way for the opening hour of Tuesday night's game, with Sunderland comprehensively outplaying a Birmingham side that had lost just two of their previous 11 Championship matches.

But after John had a second-half strike disallowed for offside - the striker admits he should have timed his run better as he raced on to compatriot Dwight Yorke's cross - and both David Connolly and Anthony Stokes passed up presentable opportunities to extend their side's lead, Campbell's sucker-punch left the Black Cats deflated.

Saturday's home game with league leaders Derby provides an instant opportunity to make amends, however, and John feels Sunderland's new-found belief will stand them in good stead during the final 12 games of the season.

"It would have been worse if we didn't have the games to put things right," he said. "But there is still an awful lot of this season to go. As long as we keep on believing in ourselves, I am sure we will be all right.

"We were all over Birmingham for large parts of the game but we didn't put the game to bed. That's something we're going to have to learn from in the games that lie ahead.

"They're up near the top of the league so they're going to be dominant at some stage and they're going to come at you. There are a lot of positives to take out of the game and we shouldn't forget that we were right on top of it for large periods.

"Conceding the late goal is obviously a disappointment, but we have to keep rolling with the punches and continue to believe in ourselves."

Given that they travel to second-placed West Brom just seven days after entertaining Derby, a sense of unity is also going to be important if Sunderland are to force their way into a top-two spot.

Keane's men were visibly dejected as they left St Andrew's on Tuesday night, but a shared sense of hurt could yet provide the catalyst for a rousing reaction in three days' time.

"You could see the togetherness in the team from the way that we reacted to Birmingham's goal," said John. "We're going to need that unity against Derby, and we're going to need it in the last few games of the season.

"I think this is something that has gelled together really quickly. A lot of new players have come into Sunderland in the last few months, myself included, but I think we're already playing as a team."

* Supporters have until April 5 to take advantage of Sunderland's offer of new season tickets at new Championship prices.

Existing season-ticket holders wishing to renew their seat for the 2007/08 season, or new supporters wanting to purchase a season pass, can also take advantage of a new interest-free payment scheme, spreading the cost over ten months, provided they apply by that date.