Big Sam is left a happy man by the late, late show

Howard Kendall was a figure of hatred and the victim of vicious vilification on the blue half of Merseyside before the tide suddenly turned and he steered Everton to domestic and European glory in the Eighties.

A decade later, Alex Ferguson was said to be one match from the sack before he fashioned Manchester United into the global power they are today.

Closer to home, Bolton's Class of 92 was failing miserably and Bruce Rioch's appointment was being questioned before they scraped a draw with two second half goals at Chester. It was the first of an unbeaten 10-match run that was to prove the opening chapter of an exciting fairy-tale.

Sam Allardyce got lucky on Saturday.

How history will judge Wanderers' 17th post-war manager could well depend on whether Wanderers can build on the good fortune that came their way when Jimmy Glass dropped the king of clangers three minutes from the end of a game that provoked a certain restlessness among the natives.

Whatever its bearing on the future, it was enough to give the new Bolton boss his first win in four attempts and enough to see justice done - whatever Swindon boss Jimmy Quinn might say about his team deserving a point.

Wanderers didn't play well and the fans were giving vent to their frustrations long before Glass - a Boys Own hero when his dramatic last-gasp goal kept Carlisle United in the Football League last May - let Bob Taylor's excuse of a shot creep under his body to break the deadlock.

A second goal a minute later, set up superbly by Ricardo Gardner and finished with supreme confidence by Bo Hansen, put a veneer of respectability on the final score. But it was a far from convincing performance.

Nevertheless, for every crack that was papered over, there was an element of encouragement to balance the scales of a critical analysis:

Wanderers might have toiled to produce the guile and the quality to break down a stubborn and unadventurous Swindon side but they showed character and determination, never stopped trying and finished strongly;

Dean Holdsworth and Eidur Gudjohnsen struggled to get the better of three centre-backs but the subs were sent on and they did the trick - in particular the livelier Hansen having the pace and energy to exploit tired legs;

and while the fans' frustrations intensified, the players' concentration levels remained high, enough to ensure that Jussi Jaaskelainen was able to keep a clean pair of gloves as well as a clean sheet!

Not surprisingly, Big Sam was a happy man as he counted his blessings.

"The players took heed from what we told them about Swindon," he said with a satisfied smile after seeing Wanderers dominate possession and territory from first whistle to last.

"We said they'd make it difficult for us to play and to create. The crowd got frustrated but the players didn't and, in the end, we wore them down.

"And we had to get that clean sheet. It was a delight to get that second goal so quickly after the first because you know what the dying minutes can be like with the extra time. They were going to throw everything forward and might have got a lucky break. Thankfully it didn't happen."

For that, Wanderers can thank the goalscorers, of course, but also Gudni Bergsson for his unwavering concentration. Swindon, humbled 4-0 at the County Ground four weeks earlier, showed plenty commitment but it was all negative and without an ounce of enterprise - they didn't produce a single shot or header on target in the entire game. But the longer it went on and the more the frustrations grew, there was always the potential for a breakaway.

It was the classic scenario but with Bergsson marshalling a defence that included Mike Whitlow in an emergency centre-back role in place of the ailing Andy Todd, Jaaskelainen enjoyed a quiet afternoon.

Not so Glass, although his first half saves from Jimmy Phillips, Gudjohnsen and Warhurst had given Swindon the confidence they needed to dig deep into their reserves of resilience. That and the good fortune when he saw Claus Jensen's shot bounce off his crossbar!

But he looked a forlorn and lonely figure after Taylor's tame shot had somehow squirted under his body and nestled in the back of the net. No surprise, then, to see him scurry away from the Reebok without comment.

His unforgiving manager was considerably more forthcoming though, lambasting his keeper and refusing to listen to excuses or explanations.

"It was absolutely embarrassing," Quinn said without a shred of sympathy.

"He took his eye off the ball. I don't know what he was doing. I don't pay players to make mistakes and I'm not interested in players saying sorry. Good keepers don't let goals in like that.

"Now we've got a three-hour drive back down the motorway thinking about what's happened instead of going back with a point we deserved and being another place or two higher in the league.

"If he hadn't let that in we'd have got a point here at the Reebok Stadium against a good side and we could have set our stall out for next week at Huddersfield, where they might have been worried about us coming. Instead, we've been beaten 2-0 and they'll be looking forward to playing us.

"I can't fault the outfield players. They are not the best but they've worked their socks off and it shows what you can achieve with grit and determination.

"He (Glass) has got to be big enough to stand up and take the criticism. If I see anybody sulking they'll be out of the club. I always look for positives but I'm talking negative after that."

Had Swindon been only a fraction more positive in their approach, the crowd might have had more to cheer on an afternoon when the loudest first half roar followed a deluge that had spectators on the front rows of the Nat Lofthouse Stand running for cover.

As it was, Wanderers were the only team trying to entertain. Yet the harder they searched for a way through, the more blind alleys they ran down.

The early goal they threatened but couldn't score would certainly have made all the difference. Recent experience had shown that Swindon's confidence collapses when they go behind and had Phillips, Jensen or Gudjohnsen been more fortunate in the first half the second period might not have been such a grind.

Hansen's introduction gave the attack more spark and the Dane, who has struggled to make any sort of impact since his £1 million transfer from Brondby in February, has made a good first impression on his new manager. "Bo gave us a little bit more movement and a little bit more space," Allardyce said of the first of the two substitutions that eventually paid off.

Inspired? The new manager is too honest to take that sort of credit. "You do it when you think it's right. Sometimes it works and you get a bit of praise," he explained. "Sometimes it doesn't and you get some stick. We'd gone a little bit stale but it's nice to have one go your way." A stroke of luck perhaps . . .!

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