THE postponement of Monday night's Premiership clash at Birmingham because of fog has given Wanderers' UEFA Cup hopes an unexpected boost, believes manager Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce had been geared up to reshuffle his line-up for Thursday's group clash with Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal.

But he will now have a totally fresh squad at his disposal after nearly three weeks without any action as a result of the game at St Andrews being called off by referee Phil Dowd an hour before kick-off.

Hidetoshi Nakata and Stelios Giannakopoulos were unlikely to play against Steve Bruce's side after international commitments with Japan and Greece respectively but are now fresh for their next encounter.

Allardyce told PA Sport: "This next week or so was going to be hectic with us playing on Monday-Thursday then Sunday-Wednesday.

"Now we go into Thursday and perhaps our only plus from not playing at Birmingham is that the players will go into the UEFA Cup game feeling really fresh.

"The only players on international duty - Nakata and Giannakopoulos - probably wouldn't have been included at St Andrews because of the treks around the world they had made with their countries.

"They can come into the reckoning for Thursday now like everyone else and, apart from Ivan Campo and Henrik Pedersen, I have a fully fit squad - but I still would have rather played the game at Birmingham on Monday."

Allardyce added: "Will the postponement change the make-up of side for Thursday? Yes, it will do, but I also have to consider the fact we will be playing Fulham on Sunday.

"The players who play on Thursday will not have enough time to fully recover for Sunday. Some will play, some won't. I will play a side on Thursday and make five or six changes for Sunday."

Allardyce and Bruce both backed the decision of Dowd to call off the televised game after his second inspection.

Dowd said: "You couldn't see across the pitch and you couldn't even see the goal from the dressing room end. When that is the case, you are not going to play.

"There was a lot on the game for both clubs and you have got to be realistic. The fans wouldn't have been able to see either and that was another thing we took into consideration.

"The pitch was great but the visibility, we can't do anything about that. It wasn't feasible to play."

For Wanderers' travelling fans and the thousands ready to watch in pubs and clubs around the town the postponement was a bitter disappointment. Wanderers would have climbed to second place in the Premiership if they had won!