EDWARD VII was on the throne, the North and South Poles had still to be visited and Einstein was yet to share with the world his Theory of Relativity writes Gordon Sharrock

It was April 1905 and Bolton Wanderers had just clinched promotion back to the First Division with a record 12 away wins.

Magnificent though that managerless team was, however, they still lost at Barnsley on the last day of the season. There has never been much of a welcome for Bolton teams at Oakwell!

They triumphed there in September 1908, though, when John Somerville's side won 1-0 en route to winning the Second Division Championship: W G Grace was still playing cricket while Parliament was stubbornly refusing to trust women with the vote ... and the Titanic was still at the drawing board stage.

Until Saturday, when Michael Ricketts' goal secured the win that eclipsed that 1905 record and set a new mark of 13 away wins in a season, Wanderers hadn't beaten the Tykes on their own patch for 92 years.

For what it's worth, history and the record books will acknowledge Sam Allardyce and his team as a remarkable lot. But will it show them to have been as successful as their forebears of 1904-05 and 1908-09?

They may well provide the answer this week. If not then it's the play-offs with Wanderers at least in pole position since the 83 points they have now accrued means they can finish no lower than third.

"That's a great achievement in itself," Allardyce said as he surveyed the league table in the twilight of Saturday evening. "Another achievement, even though it's not significant in terms of your future, is that we've broken that away record and that's fantastic.

"But it doesn't mean anything if we don't get the ultimate prize in the end!"

For that they must wait and see what the next six days have in store for themselves and for Blackburn who came from a goal down to beat Portsmouth yesterday.

Rovers still hold the advantage (quite a daunting one, in fact,) but Wanderers have at least ensured that they have something to play for in the last week of the season.

But that's as frustrating as it is satisfying. Because they and their supporters know that, while racking up those 13 away wins, they have squandered priceless points at home with a succession of lapses against teams in the lower reaches of the division - the likes of Crystal Palace, Grimsby, Huddersfield, Gillingham and Stockport.

Ten points ... the champagne corks would already be popping at the Reebok and Graeme Souness would have long been resigned to the play-offs.

But Sam Allardyce isn't the first Bolton boss to count the cost of bad results on home soil. Twenty five years ago, quite formidable on their travels, Wanderers dropped far too many points at Burnden Park, begging the question from Ian Greaves: "How on earth can a side lose promotion at home?"

Big Sam was in that 1976 team whose similarly frustrating failure the following year earned them the unwanted tag of 'Nearly Men' before they answered their critics by taking the Second Division title at the third attempt. And he experienced the bitter disappointment of ending last season with nothing, despite reaching the semi-finals of the Worthington Cup, FA Cup and the Play-offs!

So he's had enough of being 'almost there' - hence his determination this time round.

But at half time at Oakwell, the Wanderers' boss must have wondered whether his players shared the same belief. They didn't play like a team that still had a chance of automatic promotion; this was not a performance that looked like exerting even the slightest pressure on Blackburn, which was the object of the exercise.

They didn't muster a single shot on target or - apart from a clever but slightly-overcooked chip from Anthony Barness - a penetrating move of note. Like Barnsley, who were already assured a mid-table finish, they appeared to have nothing to play for.

Thank goodness for Dean Holdsworth! His introduction seven minutes into the second half when Nicky Summerbee went off with a shoulder injury, signalled the commencement of hostilities and a bore of a game became a fairly decent and, in the end, memorable Roses battle.

His impact was instant. Suddenly there was an urgency and a purpose about Wanderers. Barnsley's defenders found themselves being seriously tested and the Tykes' newly crowned Player of the Season, goalkeeper Kevin Miller, finally got to see the whites of his opponents' eyes.

Within four minutes Ricketts, whose only contribution had been a first half snapshot that flashed wide, was celebrating his 21st goal of the season, a supremely confident finish after Bo Hansen's incisive pass gave him the chance to run the last defender - the sort of opportunity he thrives on but doesn't often get.

It was his first successful strike since he netted the consolation goal in the 4-1 home defeat by Blackburn on February 23 - the six-pointer that gave Rovers the psychological edge in the race for runners-up spot. And he would have had a second if he'd shown better accuracy after Holdsworth had teed up Matt Clarke's monster clearance.

Holdsworth and Gareth Farrelly also missed golden opportunities to make the game safe, which served only to increase the tension and allow Barnsley, handicapped by the 66th minute dismissal of young midfielder Alex Neil for a second bookable offence, all the encouragement they needed to give their fans a rousing end to their final home game of the season.

To their credit, they took it to the wire - five nailbiting minutes into overtime!

The Wanderers' back four, even without the injured Colin Hendry, had hardly given an inch and, apart from a couple of awkward long-range efforts from Mike Sheron and fruitless appeals for penalties when magnificent tackles by Gudni Bergsson, Ricardo Gardner and Simon Charlton kept the door locked, frustrated Nigel Spackman's attackers. But when Charlton was booked for kicking the ball away after Gardner's trip on Neil Shipperley just outside the box, referee Graham Laws imposed a 10-yard penalty, moving the free kick two yards into the heart of Clarke's penalty area.

Memories came flooding back of Crewe and the goal that cost a defeat many believe signalled the end of the race for second spot. It took an age with Bergsson, Holdsworth and others being goaded into scuffles that might have brought even more damaging consequences. Allardyce feared a repeat of Dean Ashton's Gresty Road winner while his chairman Phil Gartside, too nervous to watch, left his seat in the directors' box!

But Barnsley didn't have the same subtlety as Crewe in their set-piece repertoire and the wall did its job.

Wanderers kept the clean sheet they deserved, ended one of the longest running jinxes in football and took their place in history.

More importantly they showed Blackburn and all other interested parties that they'll keep going right to the end ... and beyond, if that's what it takes. Gareth Farrelly battles with Barnsley's Martin Bullock.

Action Images/Darren Walsh.