SAM Allardyce believes that Bolton must reverse their awful home record if they are to have any chance of staying in the Premiership.

The Whites lost for the third time at the Reebok this season with a 3-0 reverse against Leeds to add to the five games drawn, including the recent matches against Blackburn and Chelsea, when they conceded late goals.

Allardyce kept his troops in the dressing room for over 45 minutes after the game had finished , but his words were more a reminder of his team's predicament than an ear-bashing.

He said: "At the end of the game I was just telling everyone that time is ticking on now and we are in a deep hole.

"We really should not be in the position that we are in, but it is down to games such as those with Chelsea and Blackburn.

"To have lost three at home is disappointing, but the big thing is that we have only won one and that is why we are where we are.

"The Reebok Stadium has to be the place where we pick up wins, but we have tossed points away and it is putting too much pressure on our away games. Fortunately our away record is still pretty good for this time of year."

The Wanderers' boss will be hoping that continues on Saturday when his side face bottom club West Ham when he expects to have Michael Ricketts back. The striker was ruled out last night with a groin injury.

Allardyce added: "We have been in the bottom three for too long and looking back on the 17 games we know that we should have picked up a lot more points.

"It was never a 3-0 game with Leeds, but the main difference was the quality of their finishing compared to ours.

"We caught them on a night when what they hit has gone into the back of the net, we had one of those days when we beat them at Elland Road. We put a lot of pressure on them but to no avail."