CURIOSITY finally got the better of Sam Allardyce late on Sunday night, when he stuck his hand into the inside breast pocket of his Italian suit and took out a small box.

In a reflective moment at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, where Wanderers were holding their post match "party", he took a brief moment to examine the medal he had received hours earlier when, stern faced, he stepped on to the Millennium Stadium podium to shake hands with dignitaries from the Football League and the Carling Cup sponsors.

Unimpressed, he put the lid back on the box and slipped it back in his pocket.

"I might look at it again some time but the way I feel at the moment, it doesn't mean anything to me," he said. "It wasn't up to much anyway, although I didn't examine it too closely."

Allardyce went to Cardiff last weekend for one thing and one thing alone - to win the Football Lague Cup. He never actually said so, but he really did not care how he won it. What he did say was that he wasn't going for any pats on the back - none of that "hard lines, you played well" nonsense.

He certainly didn't want a loser's medal!

Big Sam - the uncompromising centre-half and hard-nosed, straight-talking manager - takes any defeat badly but this one hit him really hard.

There is irony in the fact that a competition, which he had treated with such indifference in past years, should suddenly become the be-all and end-all. But this was his big chance - the nearest he has ever come to winning a major trophy in his 34 years in professional football.

"The hardest thing to take is that we really had a chance to put our name on the cup," he said. "No disrespect to Middlesbrough, because they would have felt the same, but on most occasions when clubs like ourselves play in a major final, it's generally against the odds. You're usually up against the Arsenals, Chelseas and Manchester Uniteds, but this was one we really believed we could win.

"Both teams had an opportunity to break their ducks and we didn't take it.

"So personally, there are no lasting memories for me and certainly no happy ones - apart from having my grandson with me.

"And that's a great shame because it was such a huge stage, but on the day I

didn't feel anything but dejected and I still feel the same now, days later.

"It was a huge disappointment for me and for the players."

Allardyce saw no point in publicly critcising his team in the aftermath, preferring instead to vent his anger on referee Mike Riley and consequently landing himself in hot water with the FA. He did not need to tell his players they had not done themselves justice, although he saw very little in the performance to encourage him.

"The comeback was fantastic," he acknowledged. "After that terrible start they calmed and controlled the nerves and, on reflection, they stopped a major thrashing. I know the goal was fortunate but they made life very difficult for Middlesbrough and created those wonderful chances that should have brought an equaliser."

Nevertheless, as the manager has said himself, Wanderers cannot afford to let their season peter out. This time last week they had twin targets in their sights -- their first major trophy win for 46 years and their highest league finish since 1960.

The first has gone, the second is still attainable. It is a lot to ask of the players to qualify for the UEFA Cup via the Premiership route but a sixth-placed finish is not beyond the realms of possibility, if they can bounce back.

They have done it before.

In fact, the recovery Allardyce inspired and which culminated in the promotion success of 2001 after the three semi-final defeats the previous year, was arguably a much tougher task than he faces now as he attempts to keep Wanderers in at least a mid-table position in the Premiership.

"To lose three semi-finals in one season was heartbreaking," he recalls.

"It could have ruined the club."

That it didn't was down, in the main, to his own skills - motivational as well as tactical - and it is those talents that are needed now.

Allardyce knows that, if the players do struggle to get back into their Premiership stride, he will have to "get into their ribs", as he puts it.

But first, he must overcome his own bitter disappointment -- however difficult that might be.