Albion boss Steve Coppell has urged Michel Kuipers to keep his cool to save him from a disciplinary disaster.

Kuipers is on the brink of an improbable ban which would force Coppell to sign another goalkeeper as emergency cover.

Keepers are rarely suspended for bookings but Kuipers has collected four, one short of an automatic one-match ban.

The influential Dutchman has already survived a suspension scare this season after a late red card in the home victory over Bradford in November was reduced to a yellow on appeal.

Now Kuipers needs to stay out of trouble for at least seven matches until the end of February, after which the punishment for five bookings becomes a warning.

Coppell said: "It is vital. He is so important for us and we don't have strength in depth in the goalkeeping department.

"If he was suspended then I would have to get another goalkeeper. A lot hinges on him and he shouldn't get involved in any booking situation."

Kuipers has been in top form recently after a faltering start under Coppell, in spite of a thigh injury at Norwich on Boxing Day which has prevented him from kicking for the last one and a half matches.

"He's been making some key saves," Coppell said. "I think it is a by product of him training regularly. Prior to me coming I was told because of his injury problems he wasn't training regularly.

"Since I've been here he has worked with John Keeley and trained more or less on a daily basis. The by-product of training every day is more consistent form. The specific problems he had in relation to his defence, when to come out and when not to come out, have certainly not been highlighted.

"He's an excellent shot-stopper, as most keepers are these days, and he has presence about him. I like him when he comes and claims crosses. That is important for us because we're not a big team defensively.

"His kicking is not brilliant but he is working continuously very hard on that and in the last four or five games his kicking has been very good."

Keeley deputised for Kuipers' understudy Will Packham in the reserves at East Preston on Monday. Packham sustained a hand injury in training but the damage is only short-term.

Paul Kitson has been given the all-clear after an X-ray on sore ribs, suffered on his comeback from four months out at East Preston.

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