Chief Soccer Writer Gordon Sharrock's live web reports from the Reebok

14:51: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2003

BARCLAYCARD PREMIERSHIP

Wanderers V BIRMINGHAM CITY

SAM Allardyce went into the big relegation duel with Birmingham today just hours after the most frantic day of transfer activity of his managerial career, frustrated that his three new signings were unavailable.

Spanish international striker Salva Ballesta, on loan from Valencia, failed to receive his international clearance in time while the latest additions to the Wanderers' French connection, striker Pierre-Yves Andre and centre-back Florent Laville, whose loan deals from Nantes and Lyon respectively were rushed through late last night in the wake of Michael Ricketts' £3.5m transfer to Middlesbrough, were also ineligible.

Andre and Laville - flown in from France by private jet - saw their registrations beat the European transfer deadline by a matter of seconds, just minutes after Ricketts sealed his move to the Riverside.

Allardyce described the events leading up to today's game as "a mad 48 hours" in which he had managed just six hours sleep but expressed his delight at the business he had conducted when he said: "We celebrated with a couple of glasses of champange then went to bed!"

Without Ricketts or any of the new signings, Wanderers went into the crunch clash with Steve Bruce's Blues with Henrik Pedersen leading the attack.

They were boosted by the return from injury of Nigerian international Jay Jay Okocha, who was back in harness after a four-match lay-off with a hamstring problem.

Birmingham gave a debut to centre-half Matthew Upson, who joined the Blues in a £3m transfer from Arsenal, and included Christophe Dugarry - an old sidekick of Youri Djorkaeff's in the all-conquering French international team.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen; Mendy, Bergsson, N'Gotty, Charlton; Frandsen, Campo, Gardner; Djorkaeff, Pedersen, Okocha. Subs: Nolan, Facey, Barness, Tofting, Poole.

Birmingham: Bennett, Kenna, Cunningham, Upson, Clapham; Devlin, Savage, Clemence, Lazaridis; Dugarry, Morrison. Subs: John, Kirovski, Johnson (M), Swierczewski, Vaesen.

Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Banbury).

15:51: WANDERERS 1, BIRMINGHAM CITY 1.

Half-time

WANDERERS got a helping hand in their battle for survival points against one of their arch-rivals in the relegation dogfight.

Desperate for a win to steer clear of the bottom three, they were gifted the lead on 12 minutes when Blues' central defender Kenny Cunningham - back in the side after injury - turned Ricardo Gardner's harmless-looking left wing cross past his unfortunate keeper Ian Bennett.

But it was an advantage they failed to build on and, after fortunate escapes when Christophe Dugarry and Jeff Kenna failed to hit the target from good positions, they conceded an equaliser a minute before half-time.

Robbie Savage, barracked and booed at every touch by the Bolton fans after his antics playing for Leicester in the hot-tempered Reebok clash last season, stole in on a Stan Lazaridis cross to score from close-range.

16:55: WANDERERS 4, BIRMINGHAM CITY 2.

HOURS after selling top scorer Michael Ricketts, Wanderers rattled in four goals to win their crucial relegation battle and drag Steve Bruce's Birmingham back into the survival scrap.

Twice they led and twice they were pegged back but late goals from Youri Djorkaeff (83 mins) and Delroy Facey (86) - his first in the Premiership - put the game out of the Blues' reach.

And Jay Jay Okocha, returning after injury, was at the heart of the winning surge.

But for much of the second half it looked as if Wanderers had squandered chances to impose themselves as Robbie Savage (44 mins) the Clinton Morrison (53) cancelled out leads that came courtesy of a Kenny Cunningham own goal on 12 minutes and a scrambled second from Henrik Pedersen 30 seconds after the interval.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen; N'Gotty, Bergsson, Campo, Charlton; Mendy, Frandsen, Okocha, Gardner; Djorkaeff, Pedersen. Subs: Facey for Pedersen 81 mins. Not used: Nolan, Barness, Tofting, Poole.

Birmingham: Bennett, Kenna, Cunningham, Upson, Clapham; Devlin, Savage, Clemence, Lazaridis; Dugarry, Morrison. Subs: John for Dugarry 67 mins, Kirovski for Devlin 73 mins. Not used: Johnson (M), Swierczewski, Vaesen.

Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Banbury).

Attendance: 24,288.