Injury shock for scorer Dean Holdsworth

Gordon Sharrock reports from Indianapolis: Indiana Blast 0, Wanderers 2.

EVERY player who hangs up his boots and turns to coaching and management yearns for a chance to get out there and show the lads how it's done.

Few ever get the chance but Phil Brown, who impressively rolled back the years in John McGinlay's testimonial match at the Reebok in May, got another opportunity last night.

But, unlike the previous occasion, this was not to his liking.

The 41-year-old assistant manager simply had no choice. Two of his players were in hospital, two more were injured and Wanderers had run out of substitutes.

"It was not the way I wanted it," Brown admitted after a 26-minute cameo appearance at right back - his old playing position - in what turned out to be a comfortable win against the Indianapolis-based A-League side.

"When you have six subs you think you've covered yourself in all areas but that wasn't the case.

"All the injuries make it look like we've been on a battlefield but it wasn't a dirty game. They were things you just couldn't legislate for but they show the problems we've got with the size of our squad."

It was Sam Allardyce's worst nightmare. The manager has been desperately looking for plus points after the ill-fated tour of Denmark when he ran the rule over a variety of trialists in a mix and match fashion and suffered three defeats - two of which were six-goal beatings.

He was confident, after days of intensive training and with a stronger squad at his disposal, that things were starting to take shape. But the injuries to Dean Holdsworth (suspected dislocated shoulder), Kevin Nolan (broken wrist) and Gareth Farrelly (jarred knee) have added to his problems.

And any prospects of young Californian wide boy, John Torrington, being offered a contract seem to have disappeared. He pulled up with a suspected torn hamstring after only nine minutes of his latest trial game, starting a procession of first half casualties and wrecking his own hopes of figuring in the US Under 23 squad, which assembles tomorrow in preparation for Sunday's pre-Olympic trial against Wanderers.

"I felt something pop!" the midfielder from Bayer Leverkusen said as he left the ground on crutches.

At that point it looked like a walk in the park for Wanderers. The Blast were everything you expect of an American side - fit and enthusiastic but lacking in technique to worry a team boasting the likes of Warhurst, Bergsson, Charlton and Co.

Holdsworth, making his first pre-season appearance, had poached a fourth minute goal and it was all one-way traffic. A big win was on the cards but the first half panned out like an episode of Casualty.

Gareth Farrelly limped off after taking a painful knock on his knee, and Holdsworth followed just six minutes later. He'd fallen heavily when he was brought down for a penalty on the half hour and, although he felt able to take the spot-kick, he was in a lot of discomfort and hit the post. Minutes later he was climbing into the back of an ambulance, accompanying Kevin Nolan to a local hospital - the youngster having broken his wrist in a innocuous collision with an opponent.

Bo Hansen's confident and clever finish on 35 minutes ensured Wanderers had enough of a cushion to avoid any mishaps, resultwise, but there would be no drubbing.

The scoreline was immaterial but Per Frandsen's performance wasn't. In his first game following his return transfer from Blackburn, the Dane showed that, despite an unhappy time at Ewood Park, he has lost none of the qualities that made him such a hit with Bolton fans last time round.

Wanderers: Banks; O'Kane, Bergsson, Warhurst, Charlton; Torrington, Frandsen, Farrelly, Woan; Holdsworth, Hansen. Subs: Barness for Torrington 9 mins, Nolan for Farrelly 37 mins, Passi for Nolan 44 mins, Richardson for Charlton 48 mins, Brown for Warhurst 64 mins, Glennon for Banks 82 mins.