Wanderers back on the right track

They know there are no prizes for being second in the table in December but they have 42 points in the bank and the season still hasn't reached the halfway mark.

Beating Crewe on your own ground isn't a cause for wild celebration but playing any Dario Gradi team at their own game - and beating them hands down - says a lot for the quality of the talent and the style of football currently on show at the Reebok.

It might, as some have suggested, say a lot for the standard of Division One that a team rated as outsiders in the pre-season odds and having lost three of its so-called best players should be doing so much better than at this stage last season - eight places better to be precise!

That's debateable but so what? All that matters is that, if Wanderers can stay where they are today, they will be playing Premiership football next August.

The only way a team is judged is on results and Saturday's win at the Reebok - their fourth in five games - was as encouraging as it was emphatic.

In fairness to Crewe, who contributed in no small measure to a highly-entertaining game, there was a touch of good fortune about it. Chris Lumsdon spurned a gilt-edged early chance and action replays show clearly that Ricardo Gardner came back from an offside position before setting up Per Frandsen for the opening goal. There were other turning points too but the fact is that Wanderers were too strong, too talented and altogether too good to be denied all three points.

The Alex had their moments and the game was in the balance for a spell after Neil Sorvel finished a delightful move to pull a goal back after Frandsen and Ian Marshall had scored twice in two minutes to put Wanderers in command. But by half-time Gudni Bergsson's determination had restored the two-goal cushion and, apart from the odd threat, Wanderers had the game in the bag.

Both managers acknowledged that, had Rodney Jack and Mark Rivers cashed in on early second half chances, it might have been a different story but count the chances Wanderers created and narrowly missed before Kevin Nolan wrapped it up with his first senior goal two minutes from the end of normal time and the Railwaymen can have no complaints.

Wanderers hit the woodwork three times and were almost as close on three other occasions - all from well-constructed moves - and were good value for their four goals even if Crewe deserved more than just the one!

Sam Allardyce had warned that things are going to get tougher from now on with opponents determined to knock them off the perch they haven't occupied since their crushing win at Huddersfield on September 9. Hence his continuing search for talent to strengthen his squad.

Nevertheless it is signficant and ecouraging that he is building from a position of strength. Never out of the top six all season, despite being marked down by many pundits for mid-table mediocrity, Wanderers still possess a squad that, even though their own manager has reservations, is the envy of many of their rivals.

One look at the subs' bench on Saturday said it all. Dean Holdsworth and Michael Ricketts - respectively the club's record signing and top scorer - Denmark international Carsten Fredgaard, the experienced Franck Passi and Steve Banks, a goalkeeper who would be a most reliable first choice if he weren't behind the exceptional Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Yet only six days earlier Allardyce had been forced to press Ricketts into service against Watford, despite the 12-goal striker being unwell, needed Passi to fill in for the suspended Frandsen and didn't have either Holdsworth or Fredgaard available.

The manager knows it could be as different again next week and is wary that four games in nine days over the festive period is likely to stretch his squad to the limits.

He would have no worries, however, if he could select from Saturday's squad for the next 24 games. Not with a defence that, even without Anthony Barness and Simon Charlton and before Colin Hendry arrives (assuming the latest snag in his on-off transfer can be sorted), looks more than capable at this level; a midfield combination capable of adapting to a variety of conditions and formations and an attack that boasts so many supremely talented and vastly experienced components that it's not easy to work out the most effective formation.

Some stayaways say they aren't happy with the style of play (it's hard to see why if they don't see it for themselves), others are disillusioned because the club has again failed to satisfy the ambitions and aspirations of some of its brightest stars - Gudjohnsen, Jensen and Fish.

But there are still quality performers at the Reebok - Jaaskelainen, Elliott, Warhurst, Bergsson, Frandsen and Ricketts, not to mention the unsung O'Kane, Farrelly and Hansen, and there are characters such as Marshall and Holdsworth who will always be good value.

Given that Allardyce is also giving youth its fling in the shape of young Nolan, there's the added bonus of having one to watch for the future.

And all that's before taking into account the burgeoning talent of Gardner!

The young Jamaican's growing strength and increasing influence on the team since his high-speed return from a career threatening knee injury continues to astonish. At no point during his recovery was it ever thought that this quiet young lad - a tricky but erratic winger at best - would be the revelation he has been in these past 11 games. Nowadays he plays with a confidence and a purpose and, in this latest display, showed that, despite his often unorthodox style, he is becoming more reliable as his consistency improves.

However, Gardner's ability to get the pulse racing remains his greatest asset as Allardyce acknowledged: "It's not often you get me clapping in the stands and applauding our play but some of his one-touch flicks and some of his vision on Saturday were world class.

"Some of the little drag backs through his legs, some of the little flicks putting the ball into the path of players running on are even surprising our own players at times rather than the opposition. They actually need to be read that bit better but it was absolutely superb how he showed his skill.

"When you have as good an outlet as him you can give him the ball and, most importantly in today's game with the pace being so ferocious, he lets everybody have a breather. He keeps possession of the ball, has a run or a dribble and takes it up against the opposition; he'll go into the corner, he'll go inside, outside and give our defenders time to group behind him.

"You have to have a dribbler to be a complete team."