Ragged Rovers feel the strain

Amongst the topics up for debate are the greatest goal of the decade, the most exciting game ever, and the best Premiership XI of all time.

But if there happened to be a section on the ballot sheet for the most ragged defensive performance then Rovers' second half display against West Ham would surely be a strong contender because it's a long time since I've seen a side fall apart at the seams in such an alarming fashion.

Twice the home side took the lead against the Premiership's current whipping boys, the first time courtesy of a howler from the red-faced David James then the second a result of a cool finish from the red-hot Andy Cole, who bagged his sixth goal in seven games.

But for the umpteenth time this season, sloppy defending then contributed to two West Ham equalisers, the latter coming from the head of the quicksilver Jermaine Defoe in the 86th minute.

The timing of Defoe's pointsaver was hard to swallow given the fact that Cole's assured finish seven minutes earlier appeared to have secured a third successive home win.

But few could deny Glen Roeder's men a share of the spoils on the day after his relegation-haunted troops mounted a stirring second half fightback.

And, had former Rover Ian Pearce brought his shooting boots, then the plucky Hammers might even have made off with only their fourth league win of the season.

It was hard to believe the side which fumbled its way through a shambles of a second half was the same one which had performed so magnificently in blunting Manchester United six days earlier.

But that's the essence of this Rovers side. One minute they can look like the Harlem Globetrotters, as witnessed in the second half at Anfield four days ago, then the next they defend like the Keystone Cops.

"That's as bad as we've played this year and I can only put it down to tiredness because we've come off the back of two really good performances but we just weren't at the races today," said Souness.

"West Ham had a gameplan, they left the one man up front and tried to be solid in midfield, and they'll obviously be delighted with a point given their situation.

"But we see these as games we've got to win and to be 2-1 up with five minutes to go and then throw it away is very disappointing.

"When Andy scored I was thinking 'Well, we've not been at our best but at least we've got three points and I would have been very pleased with that.

"But then we went to sleep and

allowed them back into it which is extremely disappointing."

On the face of it, five points from three games over Christmas doesn't sound like a bad return, especially given the respective strengths of the opposition.

But after doing the hard work in beating United and then drawing with Liverpool, this felt more like two points dropped than a point gained by the time referee Alan Wiley blew his whistle at full-time.

Tiredness, as Souness pointed out, was no doubt a telling factor but it's Rovers basic failure to defend which is currently weighing like an albatross around their necks and no-one is currently suffering more than Nissa Johansson, who increasingly looks like a square peg in a round hole.

To be fair, I feel a great deal of sympathy for the Swedish international who's spent the vast majority of the season playing out of position.

But the absence of a genuine left-back is clearly taking its toll on the team, both in terms of defending and going forward.

I lost count of the number of times the ball was pumped forward aimlessly from the back as opposed to being fed to the wide-man.

And that lack of quality service made it doubly difficult for both David Thompson and Damien Duff to exert the kind of influence we know they can.

Thankfully, at least Andy Cole had the ability to rise above the mediocre and no-one deserved a goal more than him on the day for the way he buzzed about up front, although sadly it didn't turn out to be the winner.

Deep in trouble at the foot of the table, West Ham were looking to improve on a wretched record which had seen them take just three points from their previous six games.

But they got off to the worst possible start as Rovers struck in bizarre circumstances in the fourth minute.

Egil Ostenstad fed Duff on the edge of the box and the Republic of Ireland international's mis-hit shot should have been meat and drink for James but the England goalkeeper took his eye off the ball and allowed it to trickle over the line, much to his acute embarrassment.

At that point, the visitors were reeling but James then redeemed himself with two brilliant saves to deny the lively Cole as Rovers looked to hammer home their superiority.

However, just as the Hammers looked in danger of being completely overrun, they struck back with a goal of their own from their first meaningful attack in the 24th minute.

Joe Cole was allowed to run unchecked deep into enemy territory before finally picking out Steve Lomas with a clever ball on the right and the midfielder's shot looped over Brad Friedel after taking a big deflection off Martin Taylor. Souness switched to a 3-5-2 formation at the start of the second half but his players had trouble adjusting and they were all at sea after that as the Hammers mounted a siege on the home goal.

Emergency striker Ian Pearce had two golden chances to score against his former club but missed the target on both occasions.

Then Trevor Sinclair found himself one-on-one with Friedel after a quick free-kick had dissected a sleepy Rovers defence but he failed to get enough power on his shot.

But just as both sides seemed content with a point, Cole pounced to score his eighth goal of the season after latching onto a fine pass from Tugay.

West Ham refused to accept they were beaten, however, and they got their reward in the 86th minute when Defoe stooped to head home a knock down from Pearce.

It was the least they deserved on the day.

ROVERS 2

Duff 4, Cole 79

WEST HAM 2

Taylor (og) 24, Defoe 86