The French striker raced to shake his manager's hand after netting the winner at Ewood Park on Saturday.

Sunderland deservedly trailed to Christophe Samba's first-half injury-time header before emerging after Keane's half-time talk to level through Kenwyne Jones before Cisse's 71st-minute clincher.

The details of what was said behind closed doors will remain a secret – but it worked wonders as the Wearsiders' losing streak ended.

Cisse said: ""I can't really tell you what was said, because that's between the players and the manager. But it was good for us. It gave us a big boost.

"He got me a bit annoyed, and I wanted to show him that I can score goals and work hard.

"He found the right words at half-time. It made us realise that it wasn't enough what we were giving.

"He made us frustrated, and we turned that frustration into a desire to go forward and a desire to change the result. I wanted to share my joy with him."

After a run of four consecutive defeats and Friday's wildfire rumours that Keane had left the club, victory was a boost to all in the camp.

Cisse, who said the manager was a huge reason for him coming to Sunderland, said: "Some of the players talked about the rumours that the boss was quitting. I don't really have any interest in those sort of rumours.

"Sixty per cent of me coming here was down to him, 40 per cent because of the project Sunderland AFC. They have great ambitions and want to be one of the top six, eight, 10 teams.

"Roy Keane is really important to that plan. He is someone with a lot of passion - a lot of desire to achieve great things for the club.

"He's a great role model for the players. To learn and know that football is not easy. If you want to be a good footballer, you have to fight for it.

"He's a great model for a manager. He played at the top level. He knows how players work and think.

"He just knows the job. He's a big character, I'm a big character. He knows how to deal with characters and it worked well (on Saturday)."