THE honeymoon is over and the stresses, strains and pressures of life in the Premiership are starting to take their toll.

Those who said they never really stood a chance will maintain that the natural order is being restored with Wanderers hurtling inexorably towards the bottom end of the table which is, after all, "where they belong".

They were only ever "imposters" as a force in the top half.

A harsh assessment from smug pundits? Well, it's not much different to what Sam Allardyce and his players have been saying all along.

No-one at the Reebok has been getting ideas above his station. It was nice to be top and they enjoyed it while they were there but they never lost sight of the fact that their one and only goal this season was survival and that there was a long, long way to go before they could think of anything more.

Now reality has set in with two defeats in the space of six days, both by single goal margins, in games they could comfortably have taken points from.

As they suffered so cruelly at Spurs, so they perished at Pride Park where, we assume, Colin Todd drew special satisfaction from putting one over on the club he walked out on two seasons ago. We can only assume because, as he had done in the build-up, the Derby manager stayed silent in the aftermath, apparently not trusting himself to be drawn into commenting on his time at the Reebok or, more to the point, the acrimonious events which saw relationships with people he was employed by and worked with strain and fester since he left in September 1999.

Enough of Todd, though. Wanderers are concerned with the here and the now and the challenge they face is a difficult one. But it is no more daunting than they expected.

Big Sam, honest as the day is long, is not and never has been under any illusions. He has spoken of the need to prevent for as long as possible the inevitable slide into the danger zone.

He has had a team that has exceeded all expectations with players performing to their maximum and he knew it could not last. Now, after seeing deficiencies in all departments, he recognises the need to make changes in personnel and possibly in accent.

During the run of three home defeats he bemoaned the missed chances then, when two goals weren't enough to take a point at either Aston Villa or Spurs, he pointed the finger at his defence. At Derby, it was the lack of service, the absence of a quality final ball to give them a cutting edge which was the problem.

Sure, Gudni Bergsson and Mike Whitlow had to hold up their hands for letting Malcolm Christie turn in the 66th minute matchwinner and there was a suspicion that everyone switched off, thinking the ball was running out, until Benito Carbone got in the cross. But defensively Wanderers had done their job, illustrated by the fact that Todd was preparing to send on his substitutes, including Georgi Kinkladze, in a desperate bid to come up with something fresh.

Another minute and Christie would have been on the bench!

That it was a stalemate for so long was down to Wanderers' failure to feed on the feast of possession they enjoyed. Allardyce went so far as to acknowledge that they have never had so much time and space in any away game this season, apart from the opening day rout of Leicester.

For that they can thank Paul Warhurst, whose first half performance in particular put him head and broad shoulders above anyone else on the park. So numerous were his tackles and interceptions that the ball appeared drawn to his boot like a magnet but it didn't stay long as he moved it on, swiftly and accurately, with the first touch and vision of the thoroughbred he is.

Yet he faces a carpeting today for once again losing his cool. Desperately missed at Spurs, when he was suspended after collecting five yellow cards, he was lucky not to become the first player to be sent off in the history of this fixture when he threw the ball at Carbone as he lay on the ground. Allardyce justifiably argued that Kevin Nolan's tackle on the Italian was not a foul and that he suspected he was feigning injury but he made no excuses for Warhurst, who escaped with a booking only to be taken off two minutes later for his own protection for the second time in recent weeks.

"Some referees might have sent him off," the manager acknowledged.

Warhurst would not have reached frustration point had Wanderers shown more quality at the business end. But it was not until they had gone behind that they posed any serious threat and then their luck deserted them with the industrious Nolan, who'd gone closest in the first half, and Dean Holdsworth agonisingly missing out.

With clear chances at a premium, it was all the more galling when Ricardo Gardner produced lightning pace to work himself into a narrow-angled head to head with Mart Poom, only to screw his shot wide six minutes before Christie broke the deadlock.

With so little going right for them in front of goal, the best Wanderers could really have hoped for was a shut-out. And, although they had their moments of good fortune - Fabrizio Ravanelli hit the crossbar and Christie sliced a shot woefully wide of an empty goal after Jussi Jaaskelainen stranded himself with a miscued clearance - they can argue that they deserved one.

But the reality of life in the Premiership is harsh. Failing to make the most of an advantage always leaves a team vulnerable to one flash of brilliance or a moment's hesitation.

The consolation is that they have shown again that they have no need to fear being outclassed in this company. In 1995 they were off the pace from start to finish and two years later they made a better fist of it, only to be cruelly pipped at the post. With 20 points banked, they are better fixed than on their two previous attempts to establish themselves in the top flight but that advantage is fast being eroded and they desperately need to start winning - especially at home where they have had three defeats and just two draws since beating Liverpool on August 27 - to ease the pressure and keep their head above the relegation waters.