BEN Chief Soccer Writer Gordon Sharrock reflects on a match that was unforgettable - for the wrong reasons.

Ref could have done untold damage - Sam

HE was and still is the man Bolton fans love to hate.

On the night of Wednesday, May 17 last year Wanderers' Premiership dreams were shattered at Portman Road and, 18 months on, the Reebok faithful remain united in their belief that there was only one man to blame.

Not George Burley, not hat-trick hero Jim Magilton or any of his Ipswich team-mates, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

The "guilty" man was referee Barry Knight - the Orpington official who, on the statistical evidence alone, appeared to have launched a one-man crusade against Sam Allardyce and his team, who subsequently claimed to have been "robbed" of a famous triumph.

Knight locked himself away in his dressing room after the epic events of that night when Wanderers were just seconds away from securing a place in the final of the Division One Play-offs.

He stubbornly refused to comment on his decision to award Ipswich THREE penalties or explain why he showed TWELVE yellow and TWO red cards to Bolton players yet saw fit not to issue a single caution to the home side.

I can only imagine his stomach turned over and he broke into hot sweats as he totted up the jottings in his notebook.

It simply did not add up!

In his rage, Allardyce incurred the wrath of the Football Association when he accused Knight of "holding a grudge" against him and against Bolton Wanderers. Furious fans apparently went even stronger with rumours - never actually substantiated - of death threats against the Kent ref.

The manager's emotions were understandable. This was his third semi-final defeat in the space of four months and he feared for his club's future, alleging: "He (Knight) could have done untold damage to this football club that will be felt over the next two years. You just don't know how long it might take us to get into a position like this again."

Thankfully, from the Bolton perspective, it took just 12 months.

Yet no-one ever begrudged Ipswich their place in the final - at the third time of asking - in which they were ultimately successful. It was a memorable game with Wanderers, leading 5-4 on aggregate and never having been been behind in the tie, conceding a last gasp equaliser just moments after Claus Jensen had missed a glorious opportunity to make the game safe.

In the space of eight manic minutes Ipswich - who had trailed 2-0 in the first leg - were leading 6-5 and Wanderers, their patience stretched to breaking point, were down to nine men. Martijn Reuser's breakaway goal finally clinched what every Ipswich fan and the overwhelming majority of neutrals regarded as an outstanding victory.

Allardyce graciously tipped Burley's boys to clinch a Premiership place. He continually mentions Ipswich in the same breath as Sunderland and Charlton as a club he would dearly love to see his Wanderers emulate by establishing a beach-head in the Premiership. But he is less charitable in his comments about Mr Knight.

The fact that Bolton were able not only to survive the bitter blow of that Play-off defeat but to subsequently succeed a year later is a testament to Allardyce's ability to get the best out of strictly limited resources.

His worst fears that night were realised when, within weeks of the Portman Road debacle, the supremely talented young stars, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jensen, were sold. Mark Fish soon followed as the Reebok directors cut their cloth along Division One lines.

It is to Allardyce's eternal credit that Wanderers have bounced back, hitting the Premiership running after their Play-off triumph over Preston at the Millennium Stadium.

But don't for one minute suggest to the Bolton manager that the events of Portman Road were a blessing in disguise!

He is delighted to be sitting tenth in the Premiership but, as fond and as proud as he is of his current squad, he would love to still have the likes of Gudjohnsen, Jensen and Fish to add a touch of class. He also feels cheated of a season of Premiership football.

There was, of course, no guarantee that Wanderers would have beaten Barnsley, as Ipswich duly did, in the Play-off Final.

But the fact that they were denied the chance so cruelly and so controversially is the reason they will neither forget nor forgive Mr Knight for his part in their downfall.

What do you think?

E-mail Internet Editor Chris Sudlow on csudlow@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk