Clinical Kev is so happy

IT'S nice to feel wanted. Just look at the smile on Kevin Davies' face.

The big lad from Sheffield has not looked so happy in years and it's all down to Sam Allardyce doing his homework and having faith in his ability to catch falling stars and make them sparkle again.

Davies feared his Premiership days were over when Gordon Strachan decided there was no value in a striker who was low mileage but high maintenance.

With Kevin Beattie and Kevin Phillips in tandem, the Saints' manager will feel justified in dumping the one-time teenage sensation who just five years earlier had been traded for a £7 million. But, while Strachan might argue he is no loss to Southampton, he is certainly proving to be a gain for Wanderers.

Davies had already shown a determination to prove - to himself more than anyone else - that he could still hack it at the top level but his performance on Saturday showed beyond any doubt that he still has the ability, the strength and the finishing power to strike fear into Premiership defences.

Allardyce has thrown down the gauntlet to all his attackers, urging them to respond to the signing of Mario Jardel and threatening that, if they are not doing the business come January, he could give Spurs misfit Sergei Rebrov a chance to revive his stalled career.

Davies met the challenge head on - literally - with his second goal in five games to help Wanderers secure their first win of the season, easing the nerves and building on the Reebok's fast-growing reputation as one of the most unwelcoming grounds in the country.

"It's just nice to feel wanted," he said as he nursed the aches and pains that come with the territory when you are a big, brave striker in the mould of the good old-fashioned English centre-forward. "I'm feeling probably the happiest I've been for a long time.

"Everybody at the club has made me feel that way, including the players and the staff and the fans."

First and foremost, though, it was Allardyce - always with an eye for the bargain - who believed the kid who fired Chesterfield's 1997 FA Cup adventure, including a hat-trick against Wanderers still had something to offer. First he checked his references then took him on trial.

Davies did the rest, impressing with his fitness work and with his contribution on the field.

"Having spoken to John Duncan, who used to be his old boss at Chesterfield, it's about making people feel wanted," Allardyce said, hailing Davies as his man of the match.

"We've always been very good at that. We'll provide them with the environment and the support system to go out and play at the highest level and at the moment Kevin is paying us back for that belief and that support. I hope he can continue doing that.

"When you've got a player who's got something to prove, you're halfway there."

Davies knows that the prolific Jardel - as mean as ever but now considerably leaner after a week's intensive training in Spain - is champing at the bit to prove a few points of his own.

But feeling wanted, scoring goals and finally being on a winning side, has restored his confidence to the point where he fears no threats.

"There's a lot of competition when everyone's fit," he acknowledged. "But the gaffer looks at the other side of the game as well - the distance you've covered and your workrate - as well as the goals.

"But the goals are important. We've lacked a goalscorer and I just want to keep banging away."

Davies has a dilemma though. Three bookings already is an unfortunate by-product of his competitive style and he knows another two will cost him his place in the side.

But he is on a roll and cannot afford to ease up. "I don't want to be suspended and let someone else in but I'm not going to take that out of my game.

"I've got the cuts and bruises to prove it."

No Middlesbrough defender got close enough to lay a finger on Davies when he converted a Stelios corner to put Wanderers in front on 23 minutes and the marking was no better when the Greek's overhead kick was headed in at the back post with equal ferocity by Bruno N'Gotty 10 minutes from the end.

That saved everyone - players, fans and, by his own admission, the manager - from another of those nailbiting finales that have so often ended in heartbreak.

Yet any other result would have been an injustice. Wanderers were not at their best - far from it in fact - with the opening goal coming against the run of play and an amazing save from Jussi Jaaskelainen preventing Szilard Nemeth equalising just before half time. But Boro, after their bright start, were worse.

Nevertheless, with Michael Ricketts added to the equation in the second half, anything could happen. Every step he took he was booed but even his most vocal critics knew he was capable of serious damage - a point Allardyce acknowledged when he reflected on the chance he created then squandered in the dying seconds when he headed straight at Jaaskelainen.

"That second goal came just at the right time to settle our nerves," the manager admitted. "Michael carved out that chance at the end and if it had only been 1-0 it would probably have gone in, knowing our luck!"

Wanderers had enough misfortune to contend with. The win came at a price with Florent Laville stretchered off with what looked a serious injury to his left knee and neither Nicky Hunt (hamstring) nor Youri Djorkaeff (calf) were able to last the 90 minutes.

As Allardyce admitted, it was not pretty. It was a niggly game, surprisingly lacking in quality considering the talent on view. But there were major plus points, apart from Davies' display.

Stelios, preferred to Henrik Pedersen on the right of the front three, delivered a succession of quality balls into the area and it is surely no coincidence that Wanderers have now kept clean sheets in the two games since Emerson Thome was drafted in at the back. The Brazilian was not altogether convincing.

He got away with some sloppy stuff early on and it took a couple of smart interventions by the excellent Jaaskelainen to prevent Boudewijn Zenden and Jonathan Greening drawing first blood for Boro.

But he looked more comfortable as the game wore on, despite having three different centre-back partners in Laville, N'Gotty and Ivan Campo as the injuries took their toll.

Wanderers still have a long way to go before they can settle in the mid-table comfort zone but a 10-match unbeaten home run shows they are on their way to building the fortress Allardyce has designs on and that is encouraging.

Not so encouraging for beleaguered Boro boss Steve McClaren who, after three successive Reebok defeats, is still without a win and under intense pressure to get his expensively-assembled squad of under-achievers to start delivering.