Doncaster warned they must start converting their chances

Doncaster manager Dean Saunders warned his side they faced possible trips to the likes of Swindon and Shrewsbury next season unless they rediscovered their cutting edge following a 1-1 draw at West Ham.

Rovers picked up an unlikely, if deserved, point against the npower Championship title-chasing Hammers at Upton Park after James Coppinger cancelled out Kevin Nolan’s early opener.

The visitors did have chances to win it, notably from the mercurial El-Hadji Diouf in the dying minutes, as West Ham clung on at the death.

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But Saunders fears a point may not prove enough in their relegation battle and challenged his players to find their killer touch.

“That’s been our Achilles heel to be honest, missing chances. Looking back we should have won the last nine games but haven’t because missed chances have cost us,” he said.

“We’re fighting for our lives and some of those players are fighting for their careers. I’ve asked them who they would rather play, the teams coming down from the Premier League next season or the teams coming up from League Two.

“Unfortunately we just haven’t had that little bit of luck which probably would have seen us sitting in mid-table now, rather than in the bottom three.

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“But I stood on the touchline today with pride at how we fought back from a bad start. Sometimes you are cringing but it was just pride here. West Ham are a very good side and will probably get promoted.

“Giles Barnes has put a header wide and then at the end the goalkeeper has made a brilliant save to deny Diouf.”

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is also under pressure after the Hammers failed to win at home for the fourth game in a row, following on from a 1-1 draw against Watford in midweek.

And after seeing Rob Green save Diouf’s late effort to keep West Ham on level terms, Allardyce claimed referee Andy D’Urso’s decision to rule out Ricardo Vaz Te’s early goal summed up their luck.

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“We just didn’t finish them off when we had the chances early on and that has cost us,” he said.

“Vaz Te has scored in the first minute and I’m not sure what was wrong with it and then maybe we should have had a penalty with the handball so decisions haven’t gone for us in this game.

“We are not going to panic but you would always like to win your home games.

“The Southampton draw felt like a win but the three draws have been disappointing.

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“But we’ll just keep going and keep fighting. We need to just keep our heads but it’s not the end of the world.

“If we’d won two at home and drawn three away people would be saying we’re on a good run but because it’s the other way round we’re all little bit disappointed and I can understand that.”

West Ham: Green, McCartney, Faye, Tomkins, Taylor, Noble, Lansbury (O’Neil 57), Nolan (Collins 80), Collison, Cole, Vaz Te (Baldock 25). Unused substitutes: Maynard, Morrison.

Doncaster Rovers: Ikeme, Chimbonda, Martis (Hird 75), Beye, Spurr, Bennett, Barnes, Gillett, Coppinger, Diouf, Bagayoko (Oster 60). Unused substitutes: Hayter, Robert, Ilunga.

Referee: A D’Urso (Essex).

Man of the match: James Coppinger.