REEBOK regulars got a big pat on the back this week when Sam Allardyce told his players how lucky they are to have them onside.

A big favourite himself in his playing days and resident in the town since he was 15, the Bolton boss knows the local crowd better than anyone. And he reckons his team couldn't ask for more.

"They've never been anything but good, in fact they've been fantastic," he said, acknowledging the value of the support during last week's crucial victory over Steve Bruce's Birmingham.

Crowds up and down the land are starting to get twitchy as the fear of relegation increases. And players, already under pressure from within, find home games add to the tension.

Life is becoming increasingly uncomfortable for some of their rivals in the drop zone.

Sunderland chairman Bob Murray, who has seen fit to deflect attention away from current boss Howard Wilkinson and onto his predecessor Peter Reid, reckons his players are so terrified of playing at home, the ground has been nicknamed the "Stadium of Fright" while at West Ham the calls for Glenn Roeder's head are getting louder with every defeat.

Not so at the Reebok, even when the storm clouds were gathering during the Everton defeat.

Apart from a few jeers aimed at Michael Ricketts, there were murmurings (some might say supporters were stunned into silence by the abject display) and more early departures than usual but very little in the way of vocal reaction - certainly no hostility - despite the predicament which Allardyce himself described as "very, very grave".

Players have occasionally urged supporters to play their part but the manager, who has previously expressed his disappointment at the size of the home support, will not hear a word against those who do turn up.

Singing their praises, he added: "After the Everton game I said to this mob here (the players) that if they want to talk about stick when they don't play well they should go to Sunderland and West Ham and they'll soon find out what it's all about.

"Here the fans turn up and don't even boo 'em. So they are very, very lucky and they should respond to that as they did last Saturday."

Anthony Barness, who watched from the subs' bench, said: "It was an important win.

"We hadn't won at home for some time and it was time to give the fans something to cling onto and show them everybody's working hard to win games."