HE'S only made three brief appearances this season but already Ricardo Gardner is putting the buzz back into Wanderers.

The flying Jamaican wingman burst back on to the first team scene 12 days ago against Nottingham Forest to a rapturous welcome from the Reebok fans.

And he followed that with another outing as substitute at Stockport last week before starting for the first time against Watford in midweek.

It was a remarkable comeback by Gardner, who suffered cruciate ligament damage in a league game against Barnsley. The decision by Wanderers to fly him out to America for treatment and surgery has also proved a winner with Gardner returning to action months ahead of schedule.

Now the Reggae boy is waiting to celebrate his return to action with a goal - and one against Crystal Palace today would be perfect timing.

Certainly Wanderers could do with it after suffering a downfall in fortunes.

The early season surge has seen them lose touch with runaway leaders Fulham and Watford but manager Sam Allardyce will be hoping that the trend will be reversed against a Palace side desperate for points.

Alan Smith's side have still to get into their stride although they looked as though they had done that last week when they went 2-0 up to Portsmouth but that was ruined when Pompey hit them with three goals to claim the winning points.

Smith's reacted: "We need to get mentally stronger. That was obvious from the way we lost the lead to Portsmouth."

Palace then slumped to a midweek loss at struggling Grimsby, to further rub salt into the Eagle's ever deepening wounds.

And with things not looking like they could improve in the foreseeable future, Bolton will be looking to get back on track quickly with three points.

If they don't, things could get a bit hairy when the final points are counted at the season's end. Wanderers know that they can ill-afford to let slip three home points, whoever the opposition.