Doncaster Rovers 0 Cardiff City 0: Rovers are united in common survival cause, says Coppinger

That is the view of the long-serving James Coppinger after Rovers made it five league games unbeaten at the Keepmoat and made third-placed Carling Cup semi-finalists Cardiff look distinctly ordinary.

It was ironic that Sharp fluffed their best chance to make it all three points after being restored to the starting line-up following the breakdown of a proposed £2m move to Leicester City.

He has been given until today to give the Foxes a final decision after the clubs agreed a deal which kept him out of the previous week’s FA Cup defeat to Notts County.

But relieved manager Dean Saunders said: “As far as I know, Billy will be staying with us until the end of the season.

“If he can win us six or seven games between now and the end of the season, he will be worth £3.5m and will get Premier League clubs in for him. He has indicated to me that he will not be going to Leicester but someone else may come knocking.”

Saunders would be best advised to switch off his phone until the end of the transfer window as the scouts were again watching top-scorer Sharp on Saturday.

He should have won it in the 70th minute when Coppinger arrowed a pass from the right to James Hayter, whose delightful lay-off put Sharp in the clear. A poor first touch, however, enabled goalkeeper David Marshall to race out and spread himself and snuff out the danger as Sharp went tumbling over his body.

Marshall had earlier made the save of the match, diving to his left to fingertip a rasping drive from El Hadji Djouf onto the post and away for a corner after the former Premier League striker had shown his one moment of class, cutting in from the left and twice shaping to shoot to take defenders out of the equation and make room for his goal attempt.

Djouf is, of course, one of a host of players brought in by agent Willie McKay on short-term deals or loans to help Rovers as well as putting themselves in the shop window and there has been inevitable talk of friction in the camp.

Coppinger admits it has been difficult but that now everyone in the squad has one aim – survival.

“We can’t afford to have a division between the old Doncaster boys and the new Doncaster boys in the position that we’re in,” said Coppinger, who had an increasing influence in the second half in tandem with right-back James O’Connor.

“If that was the case then we wouldn’t be producing these kind of performances.

“I think it’s important that the lads who have been in this position before when we first got into the Championship – we were bottom of the league at Christmas and we responded really well – can use that experience and help the other lads get out of it.

“We’ve beaten Southampton, Leicester and Barnsley here recently and the bigger picture shows we’re doing well. We’re playing as a team – all the XI who are going out on a Saturday are playing for each other. I think that’s bigger than any individual that’s playing well. If you’ve got a team ethic and a work ethic –- which is clear to see – we have a chance of staying in the division.

“It’s a difficult job for the manager and the players because at the back of your mind, you know there are players coming in and you’re asking yourself ‘Am I going to be playing? Is my future at the club?’ You have to make sure you get on with your football and make sure everybody’s singing from the same hymn sheet. In the last four or five games at home, we have done that.”

Coppinger has great sympathy for Saunders, who has taken 22 points from 19 games in charge, saying: “It’s difficult for the manager because he was managing in the Conference (Wrexham) and he’s stepped up to the Championship and he’s been put in this position where he doesn’t know what players are coming in and what their temperament is like. He has to do all this in a quick transitional period. He’s obviously got players like myself who have been here eight years, six years, five years. You wonder what’s going on and you get a bit protective, but I think those first few months are over with now.”

And of striker Sharp, he added: “If Billy stays, it will be a great scalp for the club and it will give us a better chance of being in the division.”

Saunders had more chopping and changing to do on Saturday and one of those to benefit was left-back Tommy Spurr, who made a dramatic return to the side after being out for four months due to hernia and hip surgery.

“I have only trained twice in the last week and on Friday the gaffer asked me if I could get through it and play and I obviously said ‘yeah’ and jumped at the chance. I think the adrenalin took me through it and I’m glad to get my first clean sheet in the league with Doncaster so it’s happy days.”

With Herita Ilunga having returned to West Ham, Saunders had experimented with Habib Beye at left-back in the cup but with little success so he decided to give Spurr his chance as Beye moved inside at Adam Lockwood’s expense.

Former Owls defender Spurr added: “It’s been a mad week, to be honest. I didn’t even know I would be training let alone playing. My hips and hernia feel all right and, hopefully, I will play next week. It’s been a long four months and it was nice for the gaffer to think I could do a job and nice to get back. It was lucky for me that we had no other left-back.

“It’s up to the manager to decide if he wants to go back in the loan market but I feel as though I did alright and, hopefully, I have shown I can do a job for him.”

The return from injury of Simon Gillett added steel to central midfield, while Cardiff’s ploy of playing Joe Mason behind lone striker Kenny Miller rarely unsettled the Rovers back four in which Sam Hird was in commanding form.

The result left Rovers with genuine hope of pulling out of the bottom three and victory at 20th-placed Bristol City on Saturday would be a huge lift

Doncaster Rovers: Button, O’Connor, Hird, Beye, Spurr; Coppinger, Stock, Gillett, Djouf (Bennett 78); Hayter, Sharp. Unused substitutes: Lockwood, Plessis, Bagayoko, Oster.

Cardiff City: Marshall, Blake, Hudson, Turner, Taylor; Cowie, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Ralls (McPhail 59); Mason (Kiss 88); Miller. Unused substitutes: Gerrard, Conway, Heaton.

Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).