Wanderers survival hopes waved away

They have now reached the 'We're not relegated until it's mathematically impossible' stage but they aren't kidding themselves.

Victory over Leeds would have given them a fighting chance; a draw would have kept them hanging on; defeat left them on their knees.

"We need a miracle now," Colin Todd admitted as his survival squad licked their wounds after another session of Premiership torture.

He added the all-important rider of "Miracles sometimes do happen!" but you sense the Wanderers boss doesn't believe in divine intervention any more than he believes his players - as determined as they are - can claim the three wins out of three that will keep them in with a shout.

Even that might not be enough if Spurs, Everton and Newcastle continue to scrape the barrel for safety points.

They'll fight to the bitter end, just as they did on Saturday when they made a valiant and breathtaking bid to fight back from 3-1 down to almost rescue a point. But you can't imagine anything more demoralising than having a last minute equaliser disallowed and you fear they'll suffer a few more cruel cuts before they finally wave the white flag. That's the way the season has gone so far and that's the way it is destined to end.

Defeat No 15 summed up the whole sorry story in just 90 minutes.

It was highly promising when Alan Thompson escaped the attentions of Lucas Radebe and stretched Nigel Martyn; agonising when Mark Fish flicked on Per Frandsen's corner only to see Radebe - his fellow South African - deflect the ball onto the post; and frustrating when Frandsen missed the target from a superb scoring position. Leeds, determined to stay in the UEFA Cup reckoning, had their work cut out.

But if she'd had to rely on Wanderers for her defence, Deirdre Rachid would still be behind bars!

Woeful doesn't go anywhere near describing the defending that brought demolition at Derby five days earlier and gifted Leeds two goals in 18 minutes, effectively putting the game and survival out of reach.

Gunnar Halle was surrounded by white shirts and all it needed was someone to hack the ball away. But Alfie Haaland was first to react and his shot skidded out of Keith Branagan's reach.

Fingers were pointing in all directions when Ian Harte beat Neil Cox on the outside and dropped a cross behind Fish and Gudni Bergsson, where Halle raced in to catch Jimmy Phillips on his heels.

"We shouldn't have let them get the cross in," Todd analysed, "but we had three bodies in the box to their one and he gets a free header.

"If you can't keep clean sheets you give yourself a mountain to climb." Wanderers at least had the desire and the ability to make a game of it, instead of capitulating in the way they did at Derby.

Andy Todd hit the post just before half-time then, just after the break, Thompson's quick thinking and accuracy with a 30-yard free kick put them back in touch.

And both Cox and Nathan Blake had great chances to equalise before Lee Bowyer intercepted Todd's pass and sent Jimmy Hasselbaink away for the third.

That prompted a mass exodus of disconsolate supporters who couldn't take any more. Those who stayed behind answered the Leeds fans' celebrations with their own supportive chants and were rewarded by an exciting and highly improbable fightback that almost paid dividends in injury time.

Fish's first goal seemed nothing more than a consolation but an equaliser looked a distinct possibility as Gaetano Giallanza forced a couple of corners and invited Branagan to race the length of the field in a desperate last throw of the dice.

Only a sadist could have scripted an ending that saw the Swiss-Italian celebrating an equaliser only for his debut goal to be disallowed.

Once again, Wanderers had played their part in an entertaining Premiership contest ... and come away with nothing!

Alan Thompson, who has done as much as anyone to keep the flame flickering and who clearly feels the disappointment deeper than most, was damning in his condemnation of "childish defending" and fatalistic when he reflected on Giallanza's heartbreak. "I thought we had a point but it wasn't to be," he moaned. "Quite a lot of things went against us from the referee and the linesman but you learn to accept them nowadays because we get so many bad ones.

"It's a massive blow because we thought we'd got a point out of the game - and that could have been the point that keeps us up."

Nevertheless, Thompson is still hopefully clutching at the last straws of this tormenting season.

"It's still not over yet," he insisted. "We've got nine points to play for and, if you add nine points to what we have already, that could put us safe."

They've been doing similar sums at the Reebok since January when Coventry hammered five nails into the relegation coffin. If results go their way next weekend, they could still be reckoning on six points from six; if they don't, it could all be over at Villa Park - barring goal difference calculations.

It's sad to say it but it is easier to be pessimistic than optimistic in the face of the facts as they stand today.

Leeds exposed the problems that have dogged Wanderers for much of the season. They have failed to make the most of their scoring chances and been punished for bad defensive errors.

They could have made a bigger issue out of the decision that robbed Giallanza of his moment of glory. It would have been a scoring debut to cap a long-awaited but highly-promising appearance as substitute for the last 10 minutes.

Todd wasn't getting too excited though. He'd seen the linesman's flag go up before the ball crossed the line. But the cruelest cut was that it was Bob Taylor, not the Swiss-Italian, who was offside.

"I was definitely not offside," the lively Giallanza insisted. "It was Bob not me but I didn't think it should have been offside at all. I thought I had made it 3-3.

"It is difficult to come on when the team is losing. I've waited five games and was happy to get a chance but it's not easy to play in this situation."

George Graham offered as much sympathy as any opposing manager can in such circumstances, praising Wanderers for playing their part in such an entertaining game. "I thought they gave their all and it's sad for them in a way," the Leeds boss said. "That was a great advert for football but, unfortunately for Bolton fans, they've got the wrong end of the result."

Todd wasn't there at the time but he knows Graham of old and predicted his post-match comments - almost verbatim!

They were no consolation.

"There's no justice," he complained. "We've taken the game to Leeds, had opportunities to score and found ourselves 2-0 down because of bad defending.

"But I can't ask for any more from the players. They've given it their best shot and any neutral watching would have wondered which was the side at the bottom.

"It's disappointing and frustrating at times because we are that close. But we are running out of games.

"We still have three more to go but this one was the most important and it just didn't happen for us."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.