RIVAL bosses, Sam Allardyce and Jean Tigana, who duelled in the Nationwide League last season, named unchanged teams on the back of the previous week's successes.

Wanderers' victory at Ipswich took them to eighth in the table while a 3-1 home win over Newcastle - their third in a row after a poor start to the season, took the Cottagers to a respectable 11th.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen; N'Gotty, Bergsson, Whitlow, Charlton, Gardner, Frandsen, Warhurst, Nolan, Wallace, Ricketts. Subs: Holdsworth, Farrelly, Barness, Johnson, Poole.

Fulham: Van Der Sar, Finnan, Melville, Goma, Brevett, Legwinski, Collins, Malbranque, Davis, Saha, Hayles. Sub: Symons, Clark, Goldbaek, Boa Morte, Taylor.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).

15:49: WANDERERS 0 FULHAM 0

Half-time

Honours were even in the first 45 at the Reebok with last season's

Division One rivals serving up plenty of attractive football without creating much in the way of goalmouth excitement.

Fulham slipped into their much-acclaimed passing game while Wanderers relied strongly on their counter-attacking strengths which have served them so well.

Lightning quick breaks orchestrated by the excellent Paul Warhurst and helped on by Ricardo Gardner were halted when Michael Ricketts was caught fractionally offside but neither keeper had much to do until the last 10 minutes of the half when Wanderers applied their best spell of pressure on the Fulham goal.

Kevin Nolan sent Edwin Van Der Sar full length to tip a 25-yard shot round the post on 35 minutes and it was the same combination four minutes later - the Dutch keeper happy to get in the way of the youngeter's full-blooded right-footer .

Wanderers maintained the momentum and Ricketts was desperately close to scoring with an audacious chip which beat Van der Sar but drifted inches wide of the target.

16:53: WANDERERS 0 FULHAM 0

WANDERERS failed again to claim their first home victory since August 28 but they showed how much progress they have made since following Fulham into the Premiership last May.

A year ago, Jean Tigana's Cottagers, completely dominated this fixture, effectively passing Wanderers off the park. But this was a completely different story.

Fulham again looked good but Wanderers looked even better in a game full of attractive football.

All that was missing was a cutting edge. Both defences did their jobs

well and, apart from two Kevin Nolan shots that tested Edwin Van Der Sar in the closing minutes of the first half, neither keeper was seriously troubled.

Wanderers had their heroes at the back and in midfield. Gudni Bergsson had one of his most impressive games in Bolton colours, Mike Whitlow was not far behind in the credit ratings and in midfield Nolan, Paul Warhurst, Ricardo Gardner and Per Frandsen proved more than a match for Jean Tigana's cultured quartet.

The only time Fulham threatened was when substitute Luis Boa Borte wrong-footed Bergsson and coaxed Jaaskelainen out of his goalmouth but Sean Davis fired over the unguarded goal.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen; N'Gotty, Bergsson, Whitlow, Charlton,

Gardner, Frandsen, Warhurst, Nolan, Wallace, Ricketts. Subs: Holdsworth for Gardner 75 mins, Farrelly for Frandsen 84 mins. Not used: Barness, Johnson, Poole.

Fulham: Van Der Sar, Finnan, Melville, Goma, Brevett, Legwinski, Collins, Malbranque, Davis, Saha, Hayles. Sub: Clark for Malbranque 68 mins, Boa Morte for Hayles 68 mins. Not used: Symons,

Goldbaek, Taylor.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).

Attendance: 23,848.