The caretaker boss, who saw his side slip to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Manchester United last weekend, looked on as they blasted the bottom-of-the table Baggies into ever-deeper trouble with a 4-0 demolition job at the Stadium of Light.

It was Sunderland's second victory in nine games and ended a run of four home defeats just when they needed it most.

However, as chairman Niall Quinn and his fellow directors consider a list of candidates to replace Keane - and the Irishman has not ruled out Sbragia - the Scot was not thinking any further ahead than next Saturday's trip to Hull.

He said: "To be honest with you, I am not even thinking about the job, and that's the truth.

"If it's there, it's there; if it's not, it's not. At the end of the day, I have been asked to take the job over and we have lost one and won a game.

"We have a big game next week at Hull and I just think in general if I focus on what we want to do next week thinking about the Hull game, that's all I can do.

"If we win games, we win games. That's fantastic for Sunderland Football Club, and we need that.

"We need to get out of the mire we are in just now, and that's one step to it. But there's a lot to go."

The win lifted the Black Cats out of the relegation zone, but perhaps bought Quinn more time in which to come to a decision on a new boss.

Sbragia said: "I think that's probably what I have done, to be honest with you.

"I spoke to Niall a couple of days ago, and he said if we got a good result today, which was important, it gives them time to sift through the applications.

"If we win next week, it will give them another week so they don't have to rush into it.

"At the end of the day, if I keep winning, I keep winning. There might be something, but I have never forced the issue."

But asked if the last week or so has given him a taste for management, he added: "Not really. I'll be honest with you, it's been hectic.

"There's a lot I don't like about it, but has to be done, and there's a lot I do like about it."

It took the Black Cats just 23 minutes to play themselves into a winning position as Jones collected his third and fourth goals of the season within seconds.

His header from Andy Reid's inviting cross gave Scott Carson no chance, and although the England keeper denied both he and strike partner Djibril Cisse improbably seconds later, the Trinidad and Tobago international finally prodded the ball home from close range.

When Reid headed home Steed Malbranque's 39th-minute cross, the victory was assured, and Cisse's 47th-minute penalty simply rubbed salt into West Brom's wounds.

Baggies boss Tony Mowbray said: "It's not a part of the team I have really been over-concerned about recently, but today we didn't defend our box well enough and the first couple of times Sunderland asked any questions, we conceded goals.

"The main thing for me is to put this game behind us very quickly and look forward to the next one.

"If we win next week and we win the week after and we win the week after, then we will be in mid-table."