It is only one step back but drop hurts, says Coppinger

No one fought a lost cause with as much vigour as the mercurial winger did against Portsmouth on Saturday but even if Rovers had held on to the 3-2 lead given to them by Coppinger’s 68th-minute strike, they would still have been doomed to the drop due to Bristol City securing an unlikely point at Birmingham.

Coppinger’s heroics – he also played a part in both Doncaster’s early goals, volleyed against the bar and tormented Pompey throughout – earned him the Champagne from the sponsors but he was in no mood to pop the corks.

A snip of a buy at £30,000 from Exeter City in 2004 – a year after the club had returned to the Football League – Coppinger played a major role in Rovers’ rise to Championship level by 2008.

With limited resources at their disposal, Rovers have punched above their weight with squads of mainly British-born players but the football world was shocked by this season’s departure from the norm when they signed such as Senegalese internationals El-Hadji Diouf and Habib Beye, former Tottenham Hotspur defender Pascal Chimbonda and Congo international Herita Ilunga.

It was a short-term experimental transfer policy designed to help out the club while putting the players back in the shop window but one which has backfired spectacularly.

After the emotional 4-3 defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday, Coppinger conceded: “It’s disrespectful to the league to think you are going to bring in ‘names’ and you are going to win your games.

“In this league and in leagues below, you need more than just ‘names’ on the team sheet. You need passion, commitment and togetherness and, at times, it just shows that if you haven’t got that you don’t do anything in football.”

Coppinger, the subject of a failed £400,000 bid from Ipswich Town last June, continued: “Eight years I have been here and this has been the hardest and most frustrating.

“The players that have been here for a long time and who have enjoyed so much success, as well as keeping us in the Championship, have found it difficult because it’s been a totally different regime and a totally different way of doing things. It hasn’t worked out for us.”

Regarding his own future, Guisborough-born Coppinger, 31, says: “I am contracted to the club for two more years and I have got a testimonial in my contract and, yes, it’s been hard to take (defeat against Pompey) because we’ve had success throughout my time here and to finish like that was so frustrating.

“Everyone is despondent and can’t believe what’s happened but it’s not just about the result against Portsmouth, it’s about the whole season and we haven’t been good enough.

“How do we react? I don’t know how the club will react to it. It is in a difficult situation because they didn’t envisage going down.The chairman and manager will get together and thrash out a plan and, hopefully, it will be a good one for the club.”

Ahead of tonight’s trip to the Riverside, Coppinger said: “It will be difficult because Middlesbrough are fighting for a play-off place but there will be no pressure on us now.

“I think the manager will be looking for reactions from players who are out of contract and from players who want to be here next season as he starts to build a team. You have to show him you want to be part of that.”

Dean Saunders took charge of Rovers after the first seven games under Sean O’Driscoll had gleaned just one point but the former Wrexham manager has been unable to save them.

Reflecting on the appointment and chairman John Ryan’s transfer arrangement with agent Willie McKay, Coppinger said: “It’s hard to change things in a short period of time and unfortunately the gaffer and everybody concerned were put into a position where they were fighting an uphill battle.

“It’s a shame because the chairman has made decisions in the past which have paid dividends – bringing in Dave Penney and getting back-to-back promotions out of the Conference and League Two; then bringing in Shaun O’Driscoll when people were thinking ‘who is Sean O’Driscoll?’ and then having the first six months trying to get the team to play how he wanted as people were calling for his head. Then, as time went on, things changed and we had great success with Sean for five years. Dean has not had that time and bedding-in period, he was thrown in at the deep end.

“It’s only one step back. We are not relegated from the Football League and you have to think back where we were 12 years ago. We are miles ahead of that but we have to stabilise and make sure we don’t keep going down and down because that can easily happen.”

Last six games: Middlesbrough DDDLLW, Doncaster Rovers LDLLLL.

Referee: D Drysdale (Lincs).

Last time: Middlesbrough 3 Doncaster Rovers 0; May 7, 2011; Championship.