English League Championship/Barnsley 0 Sunderland 2: Sunderland's players might want to brush up on their Shakespeare: "Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."
Roy Keane is certainly well versed in that principle. Sunderland's seemingly inexorable rise continued at Oakwell, but it did so without a trio of fully fit first-teamers.
"Three players were late for the bus so we left them behind," was Keane's to-the-point explanation of the absence of Anthony Stokes, Tobias Hysen and Marton Fulop from Saturday's squad.
"You've got to be on time, that's it. I'll always give players the benefit of the doubt but there has been that lacklustre approach, especially when I first got the job," said Keane.
"You've got to draw the line somewhere and the line has been drawn. The players are well aware of it. They've been told on numerous occasions of the importance of being on time.
"If you were in the factory, like I was years ago, and you were late, you suffered. The players will suffer, but it's dealt with now. It's history."
It is tempting to reach for the off-the-shelf Roy Keane stereotype ("an enforcer on the pitch and an enforcer off it") but that is too simplistic. Keane's managerial persona appears far calmer than his playing one and he suggested that rather than a knee-jerk reaction to a single incident, his patience had been well tested.
"We finished training at half past 12 and left at quarter past four," he said. "If you can't get home and get your bag organised, get in your nice car and be on time, there is something drastically wrong.
"I've played with players for 12, 13 years and they were never late once. I've been at the club six months and there's been a number of players who have been late - late for training, late for team meetings."
All of which makes Sunderland's thrust towards the English Championship's summit the more impressive. Nine wins in 11 games is a fine achievement in itself but it is startling if set against the backdrop of internal indiscipline.
The "lacklustre approach" Keane spoke of has certainly been swept from the pitch, where the visitors' movement and control regularly exposed Barnsley's insufficiencies.
The only surprise was that it took until the game's final third for Grant Leadbitter and the outstanding David Connolly to provide the goals.
Both were greeted uproariously by the 8,000 travelling fans and sparked mini-pitch invasions, but perhaps those celebrations were tinged with a modicum of relief.
The wall of noise that had relentlessly urged Sunderland on was just beginning to fade when Leadbitter's bobbling shot beat Nicky Colgan in the Barnsley goal. Connolly thumped home the goal he deserved in injury-time.
There was, though, a sense of near-inevitability about the win that stirred memories of the last Sunderland team to triumph in the Championship.
Keane's side are certainly prettier than Mick McCarthy's 2005 title-winning model; the challenge is to prove as effective. Their success thus far in doing so explains the tide of optimism welling behind Sunderland - this month's A Love Supreme fanzine, a handy barometer of terrace mood, oozes with partisan positivity.
Barnsley appeared somewhat shell-shocked by the volume and numbers that travelled from the north-east of England and remain prime targets for the Championship's bottom three.
Their manager, Simon Davey, conceded that Sunderland are currently "the best in the division" and few would argue.
The momentum is theirs and with Keane at the helm it will take more than a few tardy players to squash it: "The team has to come first and absolutely nothing will interfere with that," added the former Republic of Ireland and Manchester United captain.
Guardian Service.
BARNSLEY: Colgan, Austin, Paul Reid, Nyatanga, Heckingbottom, Devaney (Kyel Reid 63), Togwell, McCann, Howard, Ferenczi,Rajczi (Nardiello 70). Subs Not Used: Lucas, Kay, Eckersley. Booked: Austin.
SUNDERLAND: Ward, Simpson, Evans, Nosworthy, Collins, L Miller (T Miller 73), Whitehead, Leadbitter, Wallace, John (Murphy 57), Connolly. Subs Not Used: Wright, Cunningham, Carson. Booked: L Miller.
Referee: R Beeby (Northamptonshire).
