POSTMAN Lee Houghton got a special delivery -- the Wanderers shirt he loaned to the club when they realised they were one short.

Djibril Diawara, the player who wore it against Arsenal last Saturday, personally returned the top to Bolton fan Lee . . . after signing it.

Our photograph shows Lee, aged 34, of Thicketford Road, Tonge Park, with Diawara when he was invited to watch the squad train at Euxton. He said: "I don't think he speaks much English, so I didn't hear him say thank you. He was just laughing and smiling."

The club had to go in search of a blue away shirt with no lettering on the back when they arrived at Highbury because they had not packed one for midfielder Diawara, a late addition for the injured Nicky Southall. Lee said he had just come out of the tube station near Highbury with his friend Steve Halliwell when he was approached by kit manager Russell Byrne-Fraser and goalkeeping coach Fred Barber. "They told me they needed my shirt. At first I thought they were taking the mickey," said Lee.

He was then taken to the away dressing room and handed over the top in exchange for a training top, which he has been allowed to keep.

Lee was not told which player would be wearing the shirt, but knew who it was as soon as Diawara came off the bench.

He said: "It looked a bit tight on him. It was an unbelievable buzz seeing him running around the pitch in my shirt."