KEITH Branagan, right, spoke today of the injury scare that almost forced him to quit Wanderers' thrilling Worthington Cup win at Norwich last night . . . at the height of the drama. The Bolton No 1 looked in distress in the second half of the third round tie. Physio Ewan Simpson was summoned and substitute Jussi Jaaskelainen was warmed up as a precautionary measure.

"The muscles in the back of my knee started to go hard and kept going into spasm," the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper revealed.

"It was worrying because it's the knee I've had problems with in the past. But I was able to do some stretching exercises and that seemed to ease it. It seemed to come on suddenly after I'd lost my footing when the ball slipped out of my hands early in the second half. But when you've had problems before, you have an idea what's serious and what's not and, after a while, I could tell this was nothing bad."

Branagan, who has made complete recoveries from two serious cruciate ligament tears in his left knee, was playing only his third game of the season after a four month lay-off with a less serious knee problem.

He was the hero of the night with four stunning saves in open play and one vital stop in the nail-biting penalty shoot-out, which Wanderers won 3-1 to book themselves a place in the last 16 at the expense of Bruce Rioch's in-form Canaries.

It was just the tonic Todd's men needed after taking just two points from 12 in the League - a sequence that has seen them slip to 10th in the table.

With four changes to the side beaten 2-1 at Bristol City - two forced by injury, two by choice - they looked a more solid unit, frustrating Norwich's attacking efforts and taking the lead seven minutes into extra-time with a stunning goal from Robbie Elliott, who made a dream return on the left of midfield, 14 months after breaking his leg on his home debut. Keith O'Neill equalised for Norwich seven minutes later to take the tie to a dramatic penalty shoot-out. Wanderers win avenged their fourth round home defeat by the East Anglians in the same competition two years ago, when it took a replay and shoot-out at Burnden to separate the sides, and evoked memories of the 94-95 Coca-Cola Cup campaign when they beat the Canaries in the fifth round on the way to the final.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.