JUSSI Jaaskelainen says Wanderers must stop shipping in goals or face a winter of discontent.

The Reebok keeper believes the antidote to Wanderers' Premiership malaise lies in keeping clean sheets.

Wanderers went ruefully close to keeping a third shutout in ten Premiership games in Monday night's 1-1 draw with Sunderland when the away team's sublime goal came from their only shot on target.

It was tough on Sam Allardyce's team who, although struggling for fluency and penetration themselves, dominated and deserved their point.

But, as Jaaskelainen points out, luck invariably deserts teams at the foot of the table.

"Everyone knows that when you are near the bottom things seem to go against you.

"In the end we had a slice of luck ourselves which was fortunate because we could not afford to lose against Sunderland just like we can't afford to lose against Birmingham on Saturday."

The statistics prove that Wanderers need a solid foundation if they are to give themselves a chance of taking all three points.

In the ten Premiership games so far they have scored one goal in eight of them, two in one and drew a blank in the other as they also did in the Worthington Cup game against Bury.

As strikers covet goals, keepers crave clean sheets. None more so than Jaaskelainen who knows that shutting out opponents can mean more to Wanderers than many other teams.

"We have to keep working hard and get back a bit more to what we were like last season.

"It doesn't matter if you win 1-0 or 6-2 as long as you get three points. But we are not the kind of side which is scoring lots of goals so it is vitally important to us that we keep clean sheets.

"We know we can always score a goal with the talent we have in the side but the first priority has to be to keep other teams out and build on that basis. We need more consistency when we defend.

"We went close against Sunderland. They only had one chance and scored from it but that's the Premier League. If you give a team one chance they will make you pay.

"They are all big games but Saturday is a big game because we cannot afford to lose."

Manager Sam Allardyce echoed his keeper's thoughts, adding: "We score goals in more or less every game we play but we need to start keeping clean sheets.

"I just hope the lads keep playing like I know they can and hold their nerve.

"We must start taking our chances and turn these one point games into three."