Whitlow determination upstages the superstars

SAM Allardyce might well reflect today on the irony that the measures he has taken to ensure Premiership survival might just have cost him two points at Southampton.

Gordon Strachan's Saints - already shorn of strikers before the little Latvian Marian Pahars limped off after just 22 ineffective minutes - appeared to be there for the taking.

At their fluent, cohesive, counter-attacking best Wanderers might have made the advantage count. But fluency and cohesion are qualities that take time to develop and a clutch of new recruits, drafted in almost at one go, are unlikely to hit it off straight away.

Surely no-one - even the supremely-confident man himself - was expecting Youri Djorkaeff, once of Internazionale in Serie A, to conjure up the magic that helped France conquer Europe and the World.

Not in the teeth of a biting wind that brought driving hail to the south coast and turned this "six-pointer" into a test of will rather than skill.

The manager hinted as much before the game when he admitted having "nagging doubts" about trying to integrate so many new characters into his team in the one hit.

So with Fredi Bobic still finding his Premiership feet in his fifth game and Stig Tofting not surprisingly struggling to live up to the sky-high, adrenaline-induced standards of his impressive debut a fortnight earlier, Allardyce and his players justifiably felt a point - under the circumstances - was a good return and a draw a fair result.

Ultimately, the manager is confident his investments will pay handsome dividends. He predicted: "They will get better and better and play a bigger part as the weeks go on in getting us the points we need to stay out of the bottom three."

He may might not have been quite so optimistic had he not been reassured that the foundations are looking rock solid again after taking poundings from Chelsea, Leeds and Manchester United in recent weeks.

For, while Wanderers might have been expected to have capitalised on their first half superiority and, with an ounce of luck, could have snatched all three points at the end, there was a significant period in the second half when their resolve was severely tested.

But Jussi Jaaskelainen looked as confident as ever ("back to his very best" according to the manager) and the back four - even without the injured Simon Charlton who was desperately disappointed to miss more than half the game against his old team - looked safe and secure.

And how heartening it is to note that, on a day when Wanderers kicked off with eight full internationals in their line-up, an uncapped, home-spun product should play such a pivotal role in securing a result that, although not the maximum they were hoping for, nudged them a point closer to their safety target.

Take a bow Mike Whitlow! Alongside his fellow veteran and ever-reliable Gudni Bergsson this season, the 34-year-old journeyman left-back has been transformed into an inspirational, respected and highly-effective central defender.

And while the spotlight will continue to fall on Djorkaeff and the other new recruits as they strive to make their presence felt, it is to Whitlow and Bergsson and his other defenders to whom Allardyce will look to provide the basis for salvation.

They might not have earned a wealth of plaudits for keeping a clean sheet against a team forced to employ midfielder Jo Tessem as a spearhead striker and give substitute Brett Ormerod injections to get him back on his feet, but for the second match running they came under severe second half pressure and refused to wilt.

"That's the all-important thing for us," Allardyce pointed out. "We know that, if we are to achieve the points we need, clean sheets are crucial as we are not going to be a free scoring side in this division."

Maybe not free-scoring but if former Stockport keeper Paul Jones had not kept out first half efforts from Djorkaeff and Tofting - the second especially remarkable since the Dane's powerful free kick took a tricky deflection - Wanderers might have gone on to enjoy a comfortable victory.

Yet it took the introduction of Rod Wallace for Djorkaeff and the most recent recruit - Mario Espartero - to give the Wanderers' fans at the north end of the stadium something to cheer.

Wallace, who came through the youth ranks at Southampton, looked like grabbing the headlines when he darted onto the Frenchman's smart through ball three minutes from time. But suddenly the door was slammed shut and the chance gone.

"It would have been nice for Rod coming back and scoring at the club where he started," Kevin Nolan said, acknowledging the significance of the situation, "but it was not to be."

That Nolan was there to play his part was a near-miracle in itself after the youngster's lucky escape from that morning's dramatic smash that wrecked his car.

Philosophically, the 19-year-old midfielder was more concerned with the result rather than the heap of twisted metal on the motorway hard shoulder.

"We were looking for three points," he admitted, "that's why we are going away disheartened because we want to be winning games and not drawing.

"We need to be beating teams around us. But one point is better than none."

Indeed, since a sudden gust of wind or a momentary loss of control might well have proved even more costly. But, to Wanderers' relief, every opportunity that fell Saints' way was squandered - Fabrice Fernandes and Ormerod missing the best while Jaaskelainen produced a couple of tidy saves.

Tessem could have been the home team's hero, if he'd done better with the late free kick that resulted from the untidy passage of play that saw Rory Delap sent off for taking a kick at Tofting. But Strachan, who refused to defend his player, thought the outcome a fair result "conditions not being conducive to food football."

"The conditions dictated play to a certain extent," Bergsson agreed, "and it was tricky at times. But there were not a lot of chances in the game and a 0-0 draw reflected that. In the end it was a good point away from home. We wanted all three but I suppose it was a fair result.

"The introduction of the new faces didn't help. It takes time to settle in but I thought they did well, both Youri and Mario. It will be interesting to see how they fit into the team but I am sure they will strengthen our side because they are very good players."