Doncaster Rovers 0 West Ham United 1: Testing time for Rovers as they go cap in hand to fans

The Hammers, relegated from the Premier League last season, have debts in the region of £80m but that did not stop Allardyce signing his former Bolton Wanderers captain Kevin Nolan from Newcastle United this summer on wages in the region of £50,000-a-week.

Allardyce has West Ham’s mega-rich owners David Gold and David Sullivan to thank for his ongoing spending power and Nolan duly delivered the first repayment on their sizeable investment by scoring the winning goal against Doncaster Rovers.

Contrast that situation with the one now facing ‘little old Donny’ who live within their means and need to go cap in hand to their own supporters for help in signing even loan players.

Chairman John Ryan had urged Rovers fans to buy as many raffle tickets as possible on Saturday – with the prizes on offer being framed shirts worn by injury victims Billy Sharp and James Hayter the week before.

The brave move raised around £5,000 – hardly enough to bring a player like Nolan in for a day, let alone three months, which is how long Rovers will be without Sharp.

Manager Sean O’Driscoll refused to blame a horrific injury list for this defeat yet, with 10 players unavailable, it is clearly going to be a testing start to the season for Rovers.

Ironically, Sharp had also been the subject of a £3m bid from Championship rivals Southampton prior to his injury and the possible sale of the free-scoring striker offered another means of salvation.

With James Hayter also ruled out, striker Chris Brown had to play 90 minutes on his own in attack against the Hammers despite being short of match fitness.

O’Driscoll would like to bring in a new striker before tomorrow’s game with Nottingham Forest but, with money thin on the ground, may just have to soldier on without.

Rovers defender Mustapha Dumbuya accepts that the current situation is far from ideal but felt Saturday’s second-half performance offered reasons for optimism.

“Things like this happen in football all the time. You lose a lot of key players. It’s how you react to it that counts,” he said.

“It’s hard for all of us because we have lost some key players. It’s going to be a tough period but I reckon we can cope. If we carry on playing like we did in the second half on Saturday we can still beat a lot of teams.”

Dumbuya compared the impact of Sharp’s absence on Rovers with that of Manchester United losing star striker Wayne Rooney.

“Anyone would miss a player of Billy Sharp’s quality who gets 16- plus goals a season,” he said. “But if a club like Manchester United loses a Wayne Rooney, they have players who can fill in.

“We haven’t got the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, or Nani! We just have to look to our bench and hope that they can come on and do the business.

“Our first-half performance on Saturday was shocking,” he admitted. “But in the second half we came out and did well. Hopefully, we can continue from that and push on, taking the positives rather than the negatives into Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.”

Dumbuya and midfielder Giles Barnes had returned for Rovers as replacements for Sam Hird, who dropped to the bench, and the injured Ryan Mason.

A goal down after just five minutes, when Nolan escaped his marker to meet a far-post cross, Rovers spent the majority of the first half playing football in their own half of the field. While pleasing on the eye, it was of no real concern to the Hammers, who were unlucky not to score again when Nolan’s chip was tipped onto the bar by goalkeeper Gary Woods.

This was the first meeting between the clubs in 53 years and the Hammers were backed by a noisy 3,000 supporters making their first visit to the Keepmoat.

England goalkeeper Robert Green barely had a save to make although James Coppinger wasted two good opportunities for Rovers after the break.

In the first, Coppinger opted not to shoot after breaking clear – but his low ball across the penalty area failed to pick out team-mate Kyle Bennett.

With the second, he headed inches wide after Dumbuya had delivered a great centre.

As if to underline the financial disparity between the clubs, the Hammers sent on England striker Carlton Cole just after the hour mark.

He lashed a shot narrowly wide and Nolan forced Woods into another good save.

If only Rovers had packed more punch in attack, the Hammers might have been pegged back.

However, it was the Hammers’ defensive organisation and solidity which ultimately proved the key to this victory.