SAM Allardyce fears Wanderers could be left empty-handed in May, if they cannot take the strain of a heavy fixture schedule.

The Wanderers boss, who saw his players well beaten at Newcastle on Saturday, now needs two winning performances against West Ham - at the Reebok in the Premiership on Saturday and in their FA Cup fifth round replay at Upton Park next Wednesday to maintain his double bid for European qualification.

But the manner of the St James' Park defeat, where the Whites were punished for defensive errors and found wanting in attack, left him wondering if the demands might be too great.

"It could peter out," he said. "I've been saying that for a long time with all the matches we have to play."

Allardyce blamed his usually reliable keeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, for Newcastle's first two goals and lamented a lack of firepower as Wanderers converted just one of 25 attempts on goal a 71st minute consolation for Kevin Davies.

Although it was their first domestic defeat of 2006, Wanderers were left to reflect on just two wins in 10 Premiership games - a sequence that, unless reversed, could wreck their hopes of qualifying for Europe through the league for the second successive season.

"I'm not overly concerned," Allardyce said of the run. "There were lots of draws in there that we strung together under difficult circumstances.

"What I was hoping for was to push on, now that we've got most of the players fit and back from African Nations Cup duty. I half expected us to slip up when we had so few players to choose from, so I was reasonably satisfied we went all that time without losing.

"This was only our second defeat (including the UEFA Cup exit in Marseille) since New Year's Eve against Manchester United, so that's a reasonably good run. Obviously not getting enough wins has made a big difference, but Saturday was a big disappointment both from a performance and result point of view.

"Had we played how we can play, we'd have got something out of the game but, sadly, we surrendered all too easily."

Holding Jaaskelainen at fault for the first two goals a Nolberto Solano free kick on 34 minutes and an Alan Shearer header 10 minutes later Allardyce said: "He decided to take a step the wrong way, anticipating what Solano was going to do, and then couldn't get back across for a shot that should have been easy to save, had he stayed in the right position.

"Then he got a full hand on the second and, instead of palming it away, he's put it in the back of his own net.

"It was a surprise to see those mistakes down to him, but, unfortunately, it cost us two goals that made it extremely difficult for us to get back.

"Had we not gone in 2-0 down at half-time, I'm convinced we wouldn't have lost, but Newcastle saw the game out for a convincing win."

Wanderers highlighted the frailties in the Newcastle defence with a late flurry of chances after Davies had pulled it back to 3-1, but it was too little too late.

"We saw the sort of nerves that Newcastle's defence showed, even at 3-1 up," Allardyce added. "Our statistics show we had 25 attempts on goal but they were so poor that I can't remember them.

"That really shows just how bad we were at the other end, as well as at the defensive end."