Match report: Kick by kick

23 mins: Jaaskelainen launches himself full-length to turn Carrick's right-footer round the post, frustrating the Hammers' good build-up.

28 mins: Bergsson needlessly concedes a corner but Dailly wastes the chance, heading Carrick's flag-kick wide.

30 mins: Djorkaeff's free kick is fly-kicked over the bar by Repka.

31 mins: Defoe turns Konstantinidis to create a superb chance for himself, only to screw his shot wide.

37 mins: Sinclair gets round Barness to tee up Kanoute who plants his header wide.

GOAL!

44 mins: Defoe lets fly from the edge of the area, Jaaskelainen goes full length to make the save but Lomas pounces to stroke home the rebound.

H/T: West Ham 1 Wanderers 0

54 mins: Defoe feeds Kanoute, the Frenchman turns, shoots and throws his arms up in despair as Jaaskelainen makes a great one-handed reaction save.

55 mins: Cole shows his class, juggling the ball before slamming a shot against the post.

59 mins: James denies Holdsworth his 50th goal for Wanderers with an excellent save.

64 mins: Wanderers are caught on the hop by Sinclair's quick free kick; Kanoute's first effort is stopped by Jaaskelainen, his second hits the bar and a third lands on top of the net. Jaaskelainen and Charlton almost come to blows!

GOAL!

66 mins: Djorkaeff gets an "in-off" - his free kick glances off the wall, off James' outstretched hand, off the inside of the post and in the net.

75 mins: Cole looks certain to score until Frandsen slides in to make a crucial block.

GOAL!

89 mins: Pearce succeeds where he narrowly failed first half, rising to meet Carrick's corner to head the winner.

F/T: West Ham 2 Wanderers 1

WEST HAM 2 WANDERERS 1

MIXED EMOTIONS

THE bodyblow of losing to a last gasp goal; the disappointment of ending the season with three successive defeats; another fruitless trip to London - and on the last day of the season!

So what! For once, Bolton fans had the luxury of travelling to the capital without a care in the world.

The result was immaterial. Thanks to their team's incredible efforts in the first 35 games, they were were safe and could relax in the knowledge that, whatever the day had to offer, they would be watching Premiership football again next season.

"We don't know whether to be disappointed at the result or just relieved that it's all over," Simon Charlton said as he headed for his summer break, the proud winner of the hard-earned Player of the Year award.

"But overall everyone can have a well deserved holiday and come back again refreshed next year."

Of course, thoughts had already turned to next season once Wanderers' survival was confirmed by Manchester United's win at Ipswich on April 27, rendering the last two games of little or no significance to anyone but the statisticians.

Had the result mattered, Sam Allardyce might have done more than mildly chastise his players for conceding the goals at the end of each half that ultimately cost them their 16th defeat of the campaign. The time and space Jermain Defoe was given to unleash the shot that led to Steve Lomas putting the hammers in front on 45 minutes was bad enough but Ian Pearce's 89th minute winner was especially irritating since it came directly from a corner - managers hate conceding goals from set-pieces.

Then again, had there been anything to play for, he would not have switched Charlton to centre-back in place of Kostas Konstantinidis for the last half hour, when he took the opportunity to give Jeff Smith his first taste of Premiership action with a runout at left-back.

Ideally, he would have liked to have come away with the draw that seemed the likeliest outcome after Youri Djorkaeff's 66th minute free kick spun off a body in the wall and crept in off David James's outstretched arm.

"I'm disappointed we didn't see the game out and come away with a 1-1 draw," Allardyce said in his brief assessment of the day's performance. "It would have been nice to finish the season off with a point in front of that good support from our fans. Whether we deserved it or not wasn't an issue. It was just that we were going into the last few minutes and we fell asleep on a corner."

He did not dwell long on the disappointment, though, and was soon reflecting on the last nine months and enthusing: "Marvellous, absolutely fantastic! Something that was only dreamed about a couple of years ago with the state of the club's finances when I came. We've secured a place in the Premiership when everybody had written us off.

"I've taken great pleasure from proving everybody wrong."

This was the day for the critics to eat huge slices of humble pie.

The BBC's Mark Lawrenson sportingly shaved off his famous moustache to honour a charity bet with Bolton fans while Sky Sports pundits grudgingly admitted they had been wrong to tip Wanderers for instant relegation.

Rodney Marsh confessed to being surprised but gave all the credit to the manager, insisting: "Without Sam Allardyce Bolton would not have stayed up." Frank McLintock went even further in praise of the manager, maintaining: "After what he has done for Bolton, he should be Manager of the Year."

But on the same lunchtime show, Alan Mullery won the race to become the first prophet of doom for 2002-03 when he added: "If they don't give him any money they'll be down there again next season."

That sounded as harsh as the critics who were tipping Wanderers to finish bottom of the Premiership pile within hours of last year's Play-off triumph at Cardiff - the doubters whose comments were turned into such a powerful motivating force. But Mullery has a point and so does Djorkaeff, who revealed in this newspaper on Friday that he will be happy to stay if he sees the club means business and invests in more good players over the summer.

Allardyce has done a great job but, by his own admission, he knows it will be another titanic struggle if he is not given the funds to add more quality to his hard-working squad.

But while the directors are doing what they can to provide the cash to give the manager the support he deserves from the boardroom, the fans must realise they also owe Allardyce - big time.

WWanderers have risen meteorically in his two and a half years at the helm and he must go down as one of the greatest stewards in the history of the club for keeping them up this season against such formidable odds.

But Big Sam was a prominent member of the Bolton team that won promotion and survived in the old Division One in 1978-79 - only for manager Ian Greaves to be unceremoniously sacked less than six months into the following season when results failed to match high expectations and the crowd was on his back. It is to be hoped history does not repeat itself on the results front but, if things do not go so well, Allardyce has done enough already to warrant patience and understanding from those who are hailing him a hero today.

No one who has seen Wanderers' defy the odds this season, however, would bet against this manager taking them a step higher next time. Even against a side as talented and as accomplished as Glenn Roeder's Hammers, who fashioned and fluffed a handful of chances and deserved the win that took them to a seventh place finish, it was evident they have come a long way in a very short time. For the best part of half an hour, with Per Frandsen magnificent in a pivotal midfield role, they matched Lomas, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Trevor Sinclair and kept the young Defoe and the dangerous Frederic Kanoute out of harm's way.

And for a spell midway through the second half, when Holdsworth forced James into a terrific save and Djorkaeff claimed his fourth goal in a dozen relegation-beating appearances, they looked capable of ending the season on 41 points - one better than the 97-98 total that, as no true Bolton fan needs reminding, was unfortunately not enough to beat the drop.

But London has rarely been a happy hunting ground for Wanderers in modern times. Between December 1978 and November 1986 they went 29 games without a win in the capital. And that defeat at Chelsea on that fateful day in May 98 must have crossed a few minds as the supporters headed for The Smoke once more for the season's final fixture.

Only for a moment though. This time there were no nerves, no tension and no worries.

There was a flash of passion when Charlton and Jussi Jaaskelainen almost came to blows when Kanoute was allowed three bites of one particular cherry and there were doubts that many of the players on view - Holdsworth, Djorkaeff, Fredi Bobic, Michael Ricketts, Gudni Bergsson - might not be seen again in Bolton colours.

Those are issues for the summer. For the supporters, this was one day when they were able to look on as London supporters celebrated - the happy Hammers were ecstatic at finishing above Spurs - knowing they would be back again next season.