Wanderers 1 STOCKPORT COUNTY 1

THERE was an inevitablility about it ... the longer it stayed 1-0 the greater the likelihood of Wanderers tossing away another chance to end their catastrophic home run.

Since they last won a home League game on January 13, Reebok fans have come to expect it - just as they have become resigned to looking to the play-offs as their only means of securing a return to the Land of Plenty.

Mathematically they still have a chance but realistically Blackburn are not just better equipped to claim the automatic promotion place, they are decidedly better positioned - even though they are currently trailing a point behind.

And while it would be foolish to concede defeat just yet, Wanderers must be aiming in their final seven games to get back to being the dominant force that had them in the frame through almost four months so that, if they do have to settle for second best, they will at least be going into extra time with momentum and confidence.

Having gone four games without a win on home soil, Sam Allardyce left no margin for error when he said maximum points was a must from the home games against Wimbledon and Stockport. After seeing two points dropped in bitterly disappointing and controversial circumstances on Saturday, Tuesday's derby assumed titanic importance.

Now the manager knows that to hit his 92-point target, they need six wins and a draw from their remaining seven games. And the way things are going for them at the moment, that is not going to happen.

For the third home game on the trot, Wanderers managed to throw away a winning position.

They'd stunned Stockport with a whirlwind start, taken an early lead when Colin Hendry's header from Nicky Summerbee's cross proved too strong for stand-in keeper Alan Kelly and appeared to be in the mood and the form to finally turn the tide.

But Andy Kilner's modest bunch of bargain buys and free transfers have had some pretty impressive results against top six opponents already this season - a 4-3 victory over Wanderers at Edgeley Park in October being one - and they weren't going to surrender without a fight. The more they fought, the more they grew in stature and the less convincing Wanderers looked ... until Shefki Kuqi, the Finland international who has suddenly hit a rich vein of scoring form, headed his fifth in as many games to bring that now familiar hush that descends when home supporters suddenly realise that the Premiership express is off the rails again.

"No matter what we do at home we just can't clinch that all-important three points," Allardyce grumbled with a now familiar shrug of the shoulders as he searched for reasons why it has all gone so horribly wrong.

"We gave it our best shot, gave it everything we had, created lots and lots of opportunities but unfortunately could only score the one - then let them get a very, very good goal back.

"We've got our noses in front in the last three home games and just not been able to build on it. And there's no question that it's particularly disappointing that it's happened at home."

Allardyce consoles himself with the fact that Wanderers have only been beaten once - by Blackburn - at the Reebok since the turn of the year but underlines the scant reward a draw brings when he suggests: "We'd have been better off losing three and winning the rest rather than drawing them all!

"It's wins we want now - not draws."

And a win they would have had if Hendry had enjoyed just a fraction better fortune. Playing almost like a man possessed, as if determined to show the world how his Hampden Park misdemeanour was so starkly out of character, he scored his fourth goal in a week following his two for Scotland against San Marino and what should have been the winner against Wimbledon. And no-one could have complained if he'd ended the night with a hat-trick!

Andy Campbell and Ricardo Gardner went close and Robbie Elliott saw a goalbound shot hit Dean Holdsworth while Hendry - far and away the most potent attacker on the field - was having his own personal duel with the County goal and, in particular, with Kelly.

The Republic of Ireland international, signed from Blackburn 11 days after the transfer deadline after County were given special dispensation by the Football League, was booed at every touch by the Bolton fans who didn't take kindly to the Ewood Park man's involvement - not when Rovers and Wanderers are locked in such a serious struggle!

But he had the last laugh, making two impressive saves to deny Hendry and one from Simon Charlton.

Allardyce accepted the situation: "If the Football League have decided they can get another goalkeeper in for the right reasons because all the keepers they've got were injured - and they were - you have to go by the rules.

"But I'm sure Graeme (Souness) would have paid Stockport to take him!"

A delighted Kilner, justifiably proud of his team's performance, revealed that Kelly was top of a list of 18 goalkeepers he compiled after Lee Jones joined Andy Dibble and Layton Maxwell on the injury list. "I never thought we'd get him," the County boss admitted. "We've got Graeme Souness to thank for helping us out at such short notice. He did everything you expect from a top quality goalkeeper. Hopefully we can return the favour to Blackburn."

Maybe they already have!