The Black Cats boss was incandescent following Saturday's 3-0 Barclays Premier League defeat at the JJB Stadium and locked his team in the away dressing room for 20 minutes while he made his feelings known.

"The manager had words, let's leave it at that," defender Nosworthy said on Sunderland's official website, www.safc.co.uk.

"He was hugely disappointed and so were we.

"We had a lot of fans there and for them to go away with nothing, and for us to give them such a poor performance, is embarrassing."

The loss was only Sunderland's second league defeat of the calendar year and Nosworthy revealed Keane was angrier than he had been at any point in 2007.

"I'd say this is the most disappointed he has been since we lost to Preston at home in late December," the 26-year-old added.

"This was a reality check. It wasn't good enough.

"If we want a decent finish, we need to do a lot better because even the simple things didn't go right.

"Teams like Wigan are the ones we'll be around and we should be picking up points against them."

Life in the top flight does not get any easier for the Coca-Cola Championship winners, whose next two matches are against title-chasing Liverpool and Manchester United.

"We have two nice easy ones to come!" Nosworthy joked.

"But it doesn't matter who we play next, we've got to do a lot better.

"We've had setbacks before and come through it. We've got to do it again - it's about determination."