SAM Allardyce was celebrating after watching his side finally fulfil the potential they have so often suggested writes Richard Mulligan

Allardyce has time and again stressed that Wanderers have produced some good football, however until yesterday that had produced just two wins in 12 games.

That all changed at Elland Road as his team were rewarded for their fantastic performance with three points that elevated them away from the foot of the table.

Allardyce had sensed in advance that this could be the game that everything would come together, as they came up against a Leeds team that had played just three days previously in Italy and had such injury problems that they were forced to play winger Jason Wilcox in as an orthodox left-back.

The Bolton boss had a feeling that if his team could remain in the game leading up to the end, they would force the tired opposition to make mistakes.

And he was proved right as Wanderers' last two goals came in the closing minutes, with Leeds looking stretched.

"This was the best performance of the season," said Allardyce. "It was a great result for everybody and it was a relief for me personally.

"For the full 93 minutes we did very well. All week we have been saying to the players that this was a good time to play at Elland Road.

"Leeds have had a heavy schedule, and only played in Europe on Thursday night. Although they gained confidence from two wins, their strength was in the front line because they had a lot of injuries and we just had to get at

their back four.

"We felt that if it was an even game going into the last ten minutes then we would be able to get something out of it, in the end they seemed to falter because of the tiredness.

"But quality finishing and some top quality football to set up the chances had to come with that.

"We have thankfully punished the opposition at last, which we have not done in the past."

Wanderers were allowed to dominate the centre of midfield as they put Kevin Nolan, Per Frandsen and Jay Jay Okocha up against Leeds' rather lightweight Nick Barmby and Stephen McPhail.

The confidence that came with their control of this key area allowed Allardyce to make the bold decision of replacing Nolan with an extra striker in the shape of Ricketts when many a manager may have settled for a point.

"We made that change because it allowed Youri to move into the centre and link up with Michael," he said. "We could then push Jay Jay out to the right, and Henrik on to the left where he will always do a fantastic job.

"We knew that if we controlled the midfield then we could really take Leeds on, we had considered playing just two against two but the extra man made a big difference and gave Jay Jay a little more freedom throughout the game."

Despite being extremely happy with his team's performance and the result, Allardyce stressed that work needs to be done as he twice watched the Whites throw away a hard-earned lead.

"There is a lot to work on defensively, although I believe that all season we have been punished heavily for just a few mistakes.

"That professional suicide came out again but thankfully it hasn't cost us what was a deserved win.

"We need to get that defensive unit as tight as we can because we will not always be able to score four goals to get ourselves out of jail.

"We have to make sure that scoring one goal that will be enough to get us three points because more than one does not come very often."