THE backroom boys shared in the plaudits as Sam Allardyce warmed up for his double celebration with Wanderers on a Premiership high.

The Reebok boss was in party mood today - the eve of his 50th birthday and the fifth anniversary of his coronation - his spirits raised after seeing his patched-up Whites claim a hard-earned victory over Iain Dowie's Crystal Palace.

Wanderers were not at their best but the victory - Kevin Davies headed the only goal of the game in first-half overtime - ended a worrying run that had delivered just three points from four games and was hailed by the man of the moment as a triumph over adversity.

Already missing injured skipper Jay Jay Okocha and with Fernando Hierro still unavailable, Wanderers lost Ivan Campo after just 13 minutes following a nasty clash of heads with Gary Speed, who himself needed stitches in a head wound and, subsequently, five costume changes.

Kevin Nolan played, just 12 days after an operation to remove floating bone from his ankle, and Ricardo Gardner was pressed into service just five hours after flying back from World Cup duty with Jamaica.

So it was not surprising when Allardyce, whose support staff is his pride and joy, looked beyond the players as Wanderers revelled in their best ever Premiership start.

"We pride ourselves in trying to give our players the best possible service we can," the manager said in tribute to his sports science department. "In Kevin's case we found the best surgeon we could.

"The calculation was that he would miss one game and because he'd been playing so well, we decided to leave him in for the West Brom match and let him miss the Palace game.

"It was looking a bit scary for Saturday at one stage if he hadn't got fit with Okocha and Hierro out injured but the surgeon and the rehab staff got him right in less than two weeks. It was a wonderful recovery.

"Taking two bits of floating bone out of the ankle is no mean surgery but it was done with the least damage possible and it paid dividends for us."

Allardyce revealed how a combination of expert advice and sheer determination on the player's part had prepared Ricardo Gardner for a game he looked certain to miss.

"Ricardo only landed back from Jamaica at 10 o'clock on Saturday morning and virtually went straight on to the pitch," he added. "We pumped some fluids into him and kept him topped up at half time. He got his backside out there and did the job.

"We needed someone to cope with the pace of Crystal Palace down the right hand side which he did brilliantly."

Allardyce said it was team performance in every sense that helped Wanderers cope with the disruption of losing Campo and having Speed off the field on three separate occasions while he changed his blood-stained kit.

"The first half was nearly a complete write-off in terms of football because so much happened," he said. "We had to change so many things and cope with so many things, particularly my assistant Phil Brown, the medical staff and myself.

"We also had to communicate with the players to sort them out as quickly as possible. Our flow was disrupted completely but once we had got all that sorted out we had a great last 20 minutes and got the goal we deserved.

"Coming in at half-time ahead after such a disruption, when we played at times with only nine and 10 men against 11, was magnificent.

"The second half started very much like midway through the first where we conceded a free-kick outside our box and the referee sent off Gary because he had a little blob of blood on his shirt. I know he's got to do that but surely he's got to let him change his shirt and get back on. We had a shirt waiting on the side.

"They've taken a free-kick and hit the bar when we had 10 men. That could have been devastating for us and I was very disappointed in that. But it was a good night for me coming up to my 50th birthday.

"That was mainly down to the way the lads applied themselves to cope without some injured players and with the disruption on the day. It showed a lot of character and team spirit."

Kal Fadiga offered a brief glimpse of the skills that could add to Wanderers' attacking repertoire when he replaced his fellow Senegal international, El-Hadji Diouf for the last 13 minutes. But Diouf had been hauled off after trying one back heel too many and Allardyce warned his entertainers that there is only so much fancy stuff he is prepared to tolerate.

"We don't want too many fancy dans," he said. "They rather tend to get on my nerves if they do it in the wrong place and at the wrong time. With him flicking it as well as Okocha and Stelios it might see a few more grey hairs on top of my head.

"If they do it in the right areas that's great and if they are doing it for the benefit of the team that's fine.

"But if they are doing it for the fans they'd better stop it."