SAM Allardyce voiced fears today that successive last-gasp defeats could dent the confidence of his brave battlers.

"The performances have been there," the Reebok boss said, reflecting on the back-to-back defeats by Liverpool and Arsenal when late goals robbed Wanderers of hard-earned points against the Premiership's big guns, "but you have to get results when you get performances.

"We haven't and you wonder about the boys, about the confidence, about getting down and being so upset about what's happened in the last two games."

Gareth Farrelly's freak equaliser two minutes into the second half put Wanderers in sight of a 1-1 draw at Highbury for the second year running. But, having conceded a late Emile Heskey goal to go down 3-2 at the Reebok seven days earlier, they suffered even more heartbreak as Kanu - the Nigerian international - pounced in the third minute of overtime to grab a 2-1 win for Arsene Wenger's champions.

"The lads did a magnificent job," Allardyce said in praise of his injury-hit team, which was reduced to 10 men when Ivan Campo was sent off 10 minutes from time.

"I thought we were just going to hold out. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing going on in our dressing room about whether it was a free kick or wasn't a free kick but, in the end, if we'd done our job right on the cross, we'd have come away with a magnificent point."

The manager had no hesitation in pointing the finger at Campo, who was sent off for two bookable offences - the first for dissent, the second for throwing the ball away - and insisted the Spaniard needed to learn fast if he is to continue to be of use rather than a liability in the Premiership.

But he was otherwise delighted with the performance of his patched-up team.

Having learned in midweek that Ricardo Gardner could be sidelined for six weeks after needing a minor knee operation, Allardyce lost Kevin Nolan from midfield, the youngster ruled out for three to four weeks with a torn muscle in his groin.

"Players have come in and done a fantastic job," Allardyce said in praise of Gareth Farrelly, who took over from Gardner, Dean Holdsworth, who stayed in after replacing Michael Ricketts in the Liverpool game, and Campo, whose hot-headedness marred an otherwise impressive display.

"Now we've got to make sure we keep performances as high as that."