TRANMERE ROVERS defender Graham Allen relishes the prospect of taking on the cosmopolitan stars of his home town club in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Allen is Bolton born and bred and like everyone else in he is amazed and impressed by Wanderers' success in holding on to a place in the Premiership since 2001.

The 26-year-old defender takes his hat off to Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce for fashioning a team of cut-price imports into a Premiership force to be reckoned with, while harnessing the talents of the likes of Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha, Ivan Campo and Youri Djorkaeff.

But Allen insists Second Division Tranmere nevertheless have the potential to upset the odds in the High Noon third round tie at Prenton Park.

Allen said: "I don't think that Bolton fans can believe how well their team have done in the last few years to be honest. They are seeing Premiership football at the Reebok, yet Bolton have spent only a tiny fraction of what the bigger clubs lay out on players.

"There is a lot of respect for Sam Allardyce within the game and the Bolton fans love him. But I think he must be annoyed he does not get the national credit he deserves."

He added: "He's on a 10-year contract so that shows how highly the Bolton board regard him.

"In the past couple of seasons Sam would pick teams specifically to take points off the opposition of the day and that kept them in the Premiership.

"But this season Bolton seem to be playing with a bit more flair and adventure and relegation is not an issue for them at the moment.

"They recently took four points off Chelsea and Arsenal which is tremendous."

After playing three of the Premiership's richest clubs in December, a visit to Second Division Tranmere will be something of a culture shock for this Bolton side.

Allen said: "Bolton are the favourites for this game but we don't mind being the underdogs. You always have a chance of doing the unexpected in the FA Cup. You can catch other teams in a one-off."