Doncaster Rovers: Darren Ferguson keen to stop his side paying the penalty for spot kick misses

Rovers have missed four of six penalties awarded so far this season.

And Ferguson says their promotion hopes could be hampered by such profligacy.

“It’s really quite a serious thing,” he told the Star.

“We’ve missed four out of six which is a terrible record.

“I think we are a team that will probably be getting penalties in games.

“We’ve shown that. We’ve had six in 14 games which is nearly 50 per cent of our matches.

“If that was to continue, and the record with taking them as well, it’s going to cost us.

Only Tommy Rowe has netted from 12 yards in the league, having scored against Crewe Alexandra and Blackpool.

But the midfielder missed against Carlisle and failed to convert a second penalty at Blackpool on Saturday and now faces being stripped of spot kick duty ahead of Saturday’s clash with Wycombe Wanderers.

Strikers Andy Williams and John Marquis have both missed from the spot and Ferguson is keen to find a player who is going to grasp the opportunity with both hands.

“I’ll decide on Thursday what I’m going to do with it,” he said.

“I maybe will need someone to step up to take them.

“I’ve got one or two in my mind.

“Tommy has now scored 50 per cent of his which is not a great record.

“Hopefully someone can step up and start scoring on a regular basis.”

Rowe saw his second penalty saved by Blackpool keeper Sam Slocombe on Saturday which effectively denied Rovers a chance of a late comeback.

Ferguson admitted he does not like to see the same player take two penalties in games but says he leaves that decision to his players.

He said: “Tommy scored the first one very confidently on Saturday and he was confident with the second.

“For me to start saying let someone else take it, would probably put a bit more pressure on them.

“It’s disappointing we missed the second one because I still feel if we’d have scored, we might have ended up getting something out of the game.”