SUNDERLAND 1, Wanderers 0: COULD have, would have, should have! That will be the epithet on Wanderers' headstone if they lose the fight for their Premiership lives.

On countless occasions since they kicked off in August, Sam Allardyce and his players have looked back - not so much in anger but in frustration, sometimes disbelief - on points that have got away.

The defeats that could have been avoided; the victories that would have been theirs if they had gone the extra yard; the safe position that should have been secured by now.

At the Stadium of Light last night the "if only" chorus was in full cry.

If only Rod Wallace or Michael Ricketts had taken the chances that fell their way ... If only Kevin Kilbane had been stopped in his tracks or someone had prevented Kevin Phillips turning the ball inside and, decisively, someone had checked Jason McAteer's free run from midfield ...

You can imagine Allardyce making the points passionately as he analysed the night's events with Peter Reid, who could sit back and enjoy his food and wine at his old mate's expense - for the second time this season.

"Loser pays" was the deal and Reid's Sunderland - rather fortunate 2-0 winners at the Reebok in September - made it a double thanks to McAteer's first goal for the Black Cats since his switch from Blackburn last October.

There were words of consolation and encouragament from Reid, of course. Hardly surprising, it may be argued, considering his affection for Wanderers and his enduring close friendship with Big Sam. But Reid is a straight-talker and he would not suggest that his old club could beat the drop if he didn't believe it. And he did, after all, identify the major deficiency that is threatening their Premiership existence - goals!

"Like with us, goals have been at a premium," he pointed out, "but if they can get Ricketts, Holdsworth or Djorkaeff scoring, they'll be all right."

But Wanderers know from their own unfortunate experiences that that is easier said than done.

Thomas Sorensen's goal was hardly under siege at the Stadium of Light - nor was Jussi Jaaskelainen's for that matter in a game when neither side managed to find any rhythm and it was left to recent imports Youri Djorkaeff and Patrick Mboma to provide the odd touch of brilliance to raise the quality standard above the mediocre. Yet if Wallace or Ricketts had known before hand that they would have had three excellent scoring chances between them, they would have been more than happy en route to Wearside.

In the event they were both frustrated by Sorensen, who Bolton fans will recall had a blinder at the Reebok, but the opportunities were there and Allardyce was offering no excuses.

"The bottom line is that, if you don't put your chances away, you don't get anything," he acknowledged. "We had enough to get something out of it but we didn't take them - and that has left us in a big pressure situation."

That situation was made all the more precarious by Blackburn's 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, which puts the Ewood men just a point behind Wanderers with a game in hand - a position that could have been so different had things not gone so awry at the Reebok on Saturday.

Allardyce suggested the disappointment of the drawn derby - Wanderers having been 1-0 up and playing against 10 men - had a knock-on effect, causing his players to start nervously, a team clearly feeling the strain.

But they overcame their early tension and sloppiness and appeared to have not only ridden the storm but fashioned two of their three clear-cut chances - Djorkaeff and Paul Warhurst doing the providing for Ricketts and Wallace respectively.

Indeed the Sunderland fans were starting to get edgy when suddenly Kilbane provided the springboard for a counter-attack and Phillips worked the ball for McAteer to break the deadlock.

Suddenly those missed opportunities assumed even greater significance.

With Mike Whitlow suffering rib damage in his attempt to deny Phillips space to lay the ball off for McAteer and not appearing for the second half, Allardyce changed the shape of his team then quickly had to change personnel again when Ricketts limped off.

But Sunderland were living on the edge and, whether it was good luck or good judgment they can thank Sorensen for deflecting a Wallace shot wide and being in the right spot when Gudni Bergsson's back-header landed in his arms!

"If we can keep creating chances, sooner or later they will go in," Allardyce said optimistically.

The rub is that, with only nine games to play, later will be no good to Wanderers.

Derby County at the Reebok on Saturday week becomes a "six-pointer" of Everest proportions - a game that was on the mind of every Bolton player as he left Wearside.

"The battle goes on," Bergsson said. "It's a big, big game in 10 days' time and we have to be up for that. We will need all the togetherness and the team spirit.

"You can work your way back and point to certain games throughout the season when things have not gone our way and that was a huge disappointment against Blackburn on Saturday. But that is in the past now.

"We wanted a point at Sunderland but it was not to be. Now we have to pick ourselves up and look forward to Derby."