THERE was no way he could have known it at the time but, when Sam Allardyce voiced his fears over the psychological damage of losing successive games to last-gasp goals, it was just the tip of an iceberg that is now threatening to sink Wanderers' Premiership ambitions.

It was September 21 and the manager was reflecting on the bitter disappointment of having seen Liverpool and Arsenal score dramatic, heartbreaking matchwinners.

"You wonder about the boys," he confessed, "about the confidence, about getting down and being so upset about what has happened in the last two games."

At such an early stage of the season, there appeared to be no serious cause for concern. Wanderers had played well against two of the best teams in the Premiership and, although ending up with no points for their efforts, there was no reason to suspect the results would have a major bearing on their survival prospects.

If they could keep their morale intact, Allardyce was suggesting, they had shown by their performances that they were in pretty good shape.

But today those late goals - Kanu's 93rd minute strike to secure a 2-1 Highbury win for the Arsenal and Emile Heskey's 88th minute stunner to snatch a 3-2 Reebok victory for Liverpool - are being viewed in a completely different light.

Allied to the four occasions - home games against Chelsea, Blackburn and Manchester United and away to West Brom - when Wanderers have had to settle for 1-1 draws having been ahead going into the final minutes they take to 10 the number of points squandered. Points that could, in the final reckoning, make the difference between survival and relegation.

Where his major concern in September was over the strength of team spirit, the damage today is more tangible and Allardyce admits to being worried that his team's ability to sheet themselves in the foot could prove fatal!

"If we don't eradicate it soon," he admitted after seeing Manchester United snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat at the Reebok on Saturday, "it's going to cost us our place in the Premiership."

The reality is that, with those 10 extra points, Wanderers would be virtually home and dry as our modified league table proves.

Eight points ahead of their survival schedule instead of two points behind and needing just a couple more draws to be sure of a third successive season of top flight football for the first time in 40 years.

Instead, they sit perilously just one place and three points clear of the bottom three and knowing that a surge from Sunderland, West Brom or West Ham could dump them ino the drop zone with no time to recover.

How dearly they could pay for their failure to see out games when in sight of priceless points!

They have had their hard luck stories, of course; video evidence clearly shows David Beckham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were offside when they fashioned United's equaliser, Craig Short's last-gasp header for Blackburn in December came in the sixth minute of added time when referee Neale Barry had indicated four extra minutes, and way back in September they left Highbury questioning the validity of Kanu's equaliser and particularly sore at being reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes after Ivan Campo had been sent off - a red card that was later rescinded.

In the interest of balance and accuracy, we must weigh the 10 points lost against those they have gained in spirited finishes: Phil Babb's own goal that rescued a point in the home game against Sunderland, Per Frandsen's late equaliser against West Brom at the Reebok, Youri Djorkaeff's sensational point-saver at Charlton, Michael Ricketts' leveller at West Ham and the two goals in the last seven minutes - from Djorkaeff and Deloy Facey - that converted a 2-2 draw into a vital 4-2 home victory over Birmingham.

Other teams in the relegation zone will have similar gripes but none as significant as the four occasions when Wanderers have let vital victories slip through their fingers with the seconds counting down.

While critics analysed and examined the phenomenon, Allardyce appeared to be at the end of his tether at the weekend, stressing he had done everything in his power to ensure there was no repeat of the costly lapses of the first half of the season. Only a fortnight earlier, having seen Andy Johnson rescue a point for Albion in the second of three minutes' overtime at The Hawthorns, he said his players had not listened, had failed to heed his advice and put into practice the work they had done on the training ground, specifically to see games out. He criticised their lack of professionalism

Now, after successive setbacks, the manager admits there is a major psychological barrier to be overcome.

Judging by the various letters and phone calls to this newspaper since the they were so dramatically denied a famous derby double over their arch-rivals from Old Trafford, a number of fans believe Allardyce himself must take his share of the responsibility for upsetting the balance of the team with late substitutions in each of the critical games.

Whatever the cause, Wanderers can ill afford any repeat performances in their 10 remaining fixtures.

But, as they have discovered to their cost already, knowing what is required is not the answer; being able to do something about it is what counts.