NATHAN Blake took his cue from Colin Todd to set the scene for a love affair with the club he admits he once hated.

Now the man from Cardiff believes he is on his way to turning the tide of the Burnden barrackers, who labelled him a £1.5 million flop.

They'll keep a welcome on the terraces when this particular Welshman comes 'home' again thanks to a double strike that endorsed Wanderers as the outright early leaders in the race for the Premiership.

Blake, who had just a single goal to his credit following his high profile transfer from Sheffield United last December, confirmed his early season form and boosted his confidence sky high with two of the goals that put the skids under Norwich.

"It's been a long time coming," he admitted after enjoying the accolades of the Burnden fans for the first time. "I never doubted myself but I've seen a lot of things written about me in the Bolton Evening News ...

"The thing is that it's taken me a long time to settle in. I had problems early on. It wasn't the players' doing; it was my own doing.

"When I first came I felt I wasn't part of the team. But I'd come from Sheffield United and the rivalry against Bolton was quite bad.

"Coming to a team I had once hated and suddenly had to start loving, was a very difficult situation for me.

"But the players and the management team have made me feel comfortable and it's just been a case of getting my own mind right.

"Now I feel part of the team and I feel settled here."

Now, his enthusiasm fuelled, Blake is ready for lift off. "I don't set targets and I never blow my own trumpet," he stressed, "but in the frame of mind I'm in now, I know I'll score goals.

"I'm a goalscorer and, since I've been playing up front, I've had a good record. It's only since I came here that I've let myself down but I'm back on track now."

Todd saw his early birds keep up the pace of their flying start with a priceless, if not totally convincing display against Mike Walker's Canaries and couldn't disguise his delight that Blake, as he had predicted 24 hours earlier, had gone a long way to winning over the Burnden fans.

"Nathan could have had a hat-trick against Manchester City in midweek and he could have had a hat-trick against Norwich," the manager reflected.

"That shows he's getting into the right positions. I told him he would get goals if he continued to do that. He's come back after the summer in tremendous shape and he's had a point to prove. He has the belief that he will score goals and he will. After last season, this is a whole new ball game."

How true. Bottom of the table for the majority of the Premiership campaign, Wanderers have wasted no time in blazing a trail to the top of Division One and they fully intend to stay there.

It is early days but all the hallmarks of a title-chasing side are there. They set a staggeringly high standard of quality with their midweek derby demolition of Manchester City then claimed three more points when, by their own admission, they didn't play particularly well against a Norwich side that is destined to have a major say in the promotion battle.

Hence Todd's declaration: "The one thing that is paramount is winning games."

They did that thanks to the timing of their decisive strikes. Walker might feel justified in bemoaning his side's bad luck and woeful defending. But how often last season did Wanderers have cause to curse similarly when the fates conspired against them?

Credit where credit is due, Blake got his just reward for persistence when Bryan Gunn embarrassingly stubbed a simple clearance and left him an easy finish on 27 minutes for his first goal since an even easier tap-in at Middlesbrough in February.

Michael Johansen's task was almost as simple in the first minute of the second half but full marks to his countryman Per Frandsen for the defence-splitting pass that initially put John McGinlay in sight of goal.

And you couldn't ask for better timing when Blake latched onto Gerry Taggart's header to lash in his second on 77 minutes - just as Norwich were searching for an equaliser!

Ex-Oldham man Mike Milligan had given Taggart and Fairclough their first anxiety attack of the season when he sent Darren Eadie on his way to pulling back a vital goal in the 54th minute. And, for the first time, Wanderers were under the cosh.

Indeed, seconds before Taggart and Blake were celebrating the matchwinner, they were pointing accusing fingers at each other in Keith Branagan's goalmouth as Norwich lined-up a dangerous-looking free-kick.

But, in true Shakespearean fashion, all was well that ended well. Walker felt he had cause to complain that his team was hard done by but at 2-0 they looked second best and at 3-1 they escaped two more hairy moments when David Lee shot wide and Gunn denied Blake his hat-trick with a terrific save.

And the Canaries' only other shot on target, apart from the goal, saw Branagan launch himself full-length to save from Danny Mills.

All right, they are operating in a lower division, but Wanderers look an infinitely more confident side than they were just a few months ago. Taggart and Fairclough are playing with authority at the heart of a solid defence; Per Frandsen and Michael Johansen have added a new dimension in midfield where Alan Thompson, who will forever wonder why he missed his way in the Premiership, is showing a maturity that suggests that, if he can manage to get back up there, he will surely make up for lost time.

Todd expressed his delight with the Thompson-Frandsen midfield combination: "They are doing ever so well. Per is looking a very good player and Thompson, although the position is not entirely foreign to him, is looking good after switching to the middle.

"We know he has the ability but his use of the ball has been excellent."

The impact of Wanderers' exciting start to the season is measured by the teams they have already been tested against. Port Vale proved a perfect yardstick in the first while City were contemptuously swept aside in the second.

And Norwich are no mugs. But when the serious questions were asked they simply didn't have the answers - even when Wanderers lost Scott Green with a groin injury and had to shuffle their pack.

Thompson switched to left back, Jimmy Phillips went to the right and Wayne Burnett - a surprise choice at substitute - was given half an hour to display his talents in midfield.

That was at the height of the battle when Walker believed his side would go on and win the game. Yet Wanderers still had the depth of talent and the determination to win through.

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