MATCH VERDICT by Gordon Sharrock

NOT since the 1978-79 season, when Frank Worthington inspired a famous double over Manchester United to secure safety and respectability in the old First Division, have Bolton Wanderers enjoyed a more memorable league victory.

There have been headline-grabbing, giant-killing performances - the first and still the most notable being the FA Cup replay triumph over Liverpool at Anfield in 1993 - but there has been nothing to match the magnitude of the win at the Reebok last night that put Sam Allardyce's shock troops back on top of the Premiership and left the team currently rated the best in Europe in a state of shock.

That Wanderers still possess a 100 per cent record from their first three fixtures is due in no small part to Sander Westerweld, the Liverpool keeper left red-faced after letting Dean Holdsworth's speculative 25-yard shot skid under his body ... just a minute from the end of normal time.

But maximum points it is and no-one can blame Holdsworth for trying his luck.

"In those positions, you shoot and just try and hit the target," said the Reebok hero as the Wanderers' majority in the record-breaking Reebok crowd of 27,025 marched home to the echoes of 'We are top of the league!'

"You've just got to try. I've scored from there before - against Crewe last season. This one skidded right in front of him."

The jeers and hoots of derision when the fourth official signalled FIVE minutes of overtime were a sign of the nervousness of a crowd that had just witnessed a kind of magic and feared there was still time for their illusions to be shattered.

But Liverpool had not been able to muster the winner they felt their superiority deserved in the previous 24 minutes and, as it turned out, they had nothing left to offer.

Wanderers had stood defiant in the face of almost constant second half pressure, seen Emile Heskey become the first player to breach their defences in 246 Premiership minutes to cancel out Michael Ricketts' first half header and, bravely as they performed, must have wondered in their heart of hearts whether their efforts would be in vain.

"We were determined not to go under and make it too easy for them," Gudni Bergsson said, summing up the defiance he inspired with his own man of the match display. "We rode our luck a bit but we were defiant at the end."

Gerard Houllier, who saw his multi-talented team blitz European Champions Bayern Munich to win the UEFA Super Cup on Friday and clinch an unprecedented five major tropies in six months, could not believe the result while Sam Allardyce, who was a member of that 78-79 Bolton team, admitted he had to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming.

For the moment Wanderers are enjoying riding high, basking in their "15 minutes of fame" and being realistic enough to know that the nine points they now have safely in the bank are the foundation for a survival mission rather than a championship challenge.

"This was not a big game for Liverpool," Allardyce conceded, putting the fixture into perspective, "but it was a massive win for us."

Sure they were lucky. Liverpool had the better players (they have seven players in Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad for Saturday's showdown with Germany) but they were thwarted by a superbly organised and predominantly defensive display from numbers one to 11. Jussi Jaaskelainen made inspirational saves at key moments, Gudni Bergsson and Mike Whitlow were the keystones in an experienced and defiant back four and Paul Warhurst was the standard bearer in a midfield which has never had to work so hard.

And no-one should underestimate the efforts of the man often left to plough the lone furrow up front - Ricketts for 55 minutes until he felt the strain in his groin then Holdsworth for the remaining 35. Yet they both managed to hit the target - Ricketts for the third game in a row, Holdsworth for the first time this season - and Bo Hansen could have had added a third in injury time if Stephane Henchoz hadn't cleared his short off the line with Weszterweld stranded again!

"It was an outstanding team performance," Allardyce enthused. "They are all players in a system; everybody knows the job, both when we have the ball and when the opposition has it.

"We made it difficult for Liverpool to get through and that will always give you the basis for a win. If, when Liverpool scored, I'd been asked if I would take a 1-1, I would have taken it.

"But goalscorers are crucial in any division - probably more important in this than any other - and you always impress on them that, if they hit the target, at least they make the keeper make a save. Because if he makes a mistake, it's a goal."