IVAN Campo is on the verge of making Rodney Marsh eat a huge slice of humble pie.

The mop-haired Spaniard is showing the class that prompted Sam Allardyce to go out on a limb to persuade Real Madrid to loan him out last summer and making a mockery of the controversial Sky TV pundit who labelled him an "overweight Sunday league player".

Should he prove ultimately successful and help Wanderers beat the drop, he would have every right to demand a public apology.

Not that the flamboyant Wanderer is concerned in the slightest what others think. Anyone who plays with such a swagger has enough confidence in his own ability to treat such deliberately-exaggerated criticism with the contempt it deserves.

More to the point, Campo knows he has the respect of his team-mates and, after some patchy form earlier in the season, knows he had won over the doubters in the Reebok crowd - largely thanks to him being switched from back four to midfield.

Jay-Jay Okocha smiled broadly when he saluted the Spaniard's performance against Spurs on Monday night, acknowledging: "At last he has found his position because he seems to play better in the midfield than in the back four.

"We are enjoying his presence in the midfield."

By his own admission Campo feels more comfortable in a defensive midfield role than he does as at centre-back and, allied to the emergence of Florent "The Rock" Laville as a reliable partner for Gudni Bergsson, Wanderers look more solid, defensively, than at any time this season.

Two wins and two clean sheets led Okocha to suggest: "If we can continue working hard, we will keep clean sheets and the more clean sheets, the more we will win.

"We have a good attacking squad - the only thing we've been lacking has been clean sheets."

Bergsson chose his words carefully when he was playing alongside Campo but even he had to admit there were times when he had his heart in his mouth, judging by his remarks after managing a rare shut-out.

"I think when you play with Ivan you have to expect the unexpected," the Wanderers skipper agreed. "That's the way he plays. He's a footballing defender and you have to learn not to panic when he's around.

"He's exciting to watch but, perhaps, a little too exciting at times. Whenever you play with Ivan there will always be one or two hairy moments."

Fewer these days, of course, with the supremely-talented international enjoying the licence to express himself while helping put a screen on the back four - the role Paul Warhurst perfected and which was taken up by Per Frandsen before landing in the most capable of hands.

He may overdo things at times but, out of harm's way, he is no longer a liability, certainly not a clown and light years away from any Sunday League team.