Wanderers 2, Grimsby Town 2 EXPERIENCE has taught Sam Allardyce that the big occasions don't always live up to expectations writes BEN Chief Soccer Writer Gordon Sharrock

A dutiful host, he thanked more than 24,000 for turning up to his party but found himself apologising for failing to give them what they came to see - a win.

"When you've been in the game as long as I have, you learn that when you set something like this up, you rarely get what you want," the manager said, acknowledging that fate, the law of Sod and a team of gatecrashers from Grimsby had conspired to frustrate Wanderers and disappoint the biggest Reebok crowd since the days of the Premiership.

The "Fiver a Seat" initiative proved a resounding success with supporters responding to the club's ground-breaking move, packing the stadium to near-capacity. But the team failed to rise to the occasion leaving Allardyce searching for crumbs of comfort and thankful for small mercies.

"We set ourselves up for it big-style and unfortunately we haven't got what we wanted," he admitted after Wanderers got themselves into such a state that they twice had to come from behind to secure the draw - the third time in five games they have had to content themselves with a draw against teams in the bottom six!

"But it could have been worse - we could have lost and we might, at the end of the season, look back on this as a vital point."

Indeed they might. But they could also live to regret dropping two more priceless home points on a night when their nearest rivals - Blackburn and Birmingham - posted away wins and threw the race for the Premiership wide open.

It's a round of results that will make chapter two of their duel with Graeme Souness' Rovers on Friday night all the more crucial. The second Reebok derby in seven days will decide nothing, of course, but a win for either side won't half have a bearing on confidence as the season approaches its climax.

Hopefully this time Wanderers will produce a performance to match the magnitude of the occasion because, for some reason or other, they wasted the best part of 45 minutes last night, allowing Lennie Lawrence's Mariners - still not out of the relegation woods by a long chalk - to take the initiative and the lead, Paul Groves rising virtually unchallenged to head home Stuart Campbell's free kick. Allardyce reckoned nerves got the better of his players, the weight of expectation, perhaps. Lawrence certainly thought the crowd worked in his favour.

"We were definitely the best team in the first half," he said with some justification. "A lot of people thought we were going to be lambs to the slaughter and that we would roll over but I think the crowd worked to our advantage.

"It was great. That's what we're in this league for."

It wasn't until the introduction of Dean Holdsworth after half-time that there was any tempo or urgency in Wanderers' performance. Suddenly having looked ponderous and lacklustre, they sparkled, made things happen and the football finally began to match the Family Fun Night atmosphere.

There were three penalty appeals, half a dozen corners and a succession of goalmouth incidents - all within five minutes of the restart - and, when Gudni Bergsson took matters into his own hands, starting and finishing the move that brought a stunning equaliser, the scene was set for Wanderers to mark their 100th competitive game at the Reebok with a victory.

But Grimsby were back in front within three minutes and, for the second time, Allardyce had seen his defence undone by a free kick and a well-placed header, this time from Zhang Enhua, the Chinese international defender, who'd headed the winner against Burnley on Saturday.

It was fitting that Bo Hansen should get the second equaliser, having not only been the liveliest and most energetic but also the most productive Wanderer.

But a point wasn't enough and Allardyce was left counting the cost of a sloppy start and some even sloppier defending.

"Getting the first goal is going to be important on Friday," he predicted. "We don't want to be coming back from behind again like we have had to do on too many occasions recently: 1-0 down at QPR and having to come back to 1-1; 2-0 down at home to Huddersfield and coming back to 2-2; a goal down to Blackburn on Saturday and coming back to draw; now this. At Portsmouth we went 2-0 up and won the game. That's the difference.

"We would have won the game last night if we hadn't defended badly on those two set plays. That was very, very disappointing.

"But we're 10 games undefeated and still very close to our target (two points per game). We've had too many draws but they could be valuable points at the end of the season. Those draws could have been losses."

Despite Rovers and Birmingham closing the gap behind Wanderers to seven points (both having two games in hand) Allardyce is still looking up.

"The most disappointing thing about last night was seeing that Fulham had lost," he insisted. "Had we won we would have been closer to them. It's not about what Blackburn and Birmingham are doing, it's about us.

"However the results had gone, Friday was always going to be a massive game."