ALAN Stubbs turned the clock back to the good old giant-killing days as he set the scene for an upset in tomorrow's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The man who scored the goal that added Aston Villa to the list of prized scalps Wanderers took during their days of knockout glory insists there's nothing to fear from being the outsiders again.

"We were underdogs last time we met Villa in the FA Cup," says Stubbs, recalling the fifth round of 1994 when a 1-0 Burnden Park defeat wiped the smile off Ron Atkinson's face.

"They were the days when it didn't matter who we played in the cup games, we produced shock after shock against the top teams. They were difficult games but our confidence was sky high and we went into them knowing we had nothing to lose.

"And from what I've seen of this Bolton team now, they are capable of doing just the same."

Stubbs, still at Celtic where he moved in a £3.5 million transfer in the Summer of 96, captained Wanderers to Wembley success in 1995 when they beat Reading in a dramatic Division One play-off final just weeks after losing to Liverpool in the Coca-Cola Cup Final.

That Bruce Rioch team won national fame as the most feared of giant-killers as they assembled an array of Premiership victims including Liverpool, Everton Arsenal, Ipswich, West Ham and Norwich.

Stubbs says Wanderers' relatively easy passage to this season's semi-final - Villa will be their first Premiership opponents - is irrelevant. "Sometimes it can be easier playing against Premiership teams, " he insists. "We always had our best games against the better teams."

Great game

He has vivid memories of the hammer blow he delivered eight minutes from time to beat Mark Bosnich and secure a sixth round Burnden clash with Oldham, which brought that particular season's cup run to a disappointing end.

"The pitch was really heavy and it hadn't been the most entertaining game, as you'd expect at the last 16 stage. It wasn't the best of strikes either, bobbling four or five times, but it went in the bottom corner and that was all that mattered.

"Tomorrow has the makings of a great game though. Bolton have players who are at the top of their game at the moment and Villa are doing well too. They've both turned their seasons around.

"Paul Merson's been absolutely fantastic. Bolton are going to have to watch him - and Carbone as well. But they've still got a chance.

"Gudjohnsen's playing well and I've been impressed by Jensen. They could both play in the top flight.

"It's difficult to call but I'd love Bolton to get through. Villa are the favourites ... but that counts for nothing."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.