Gill and tonic is the perfect pick-me-up

The Icelander could have had a hat-trick but settled for two beauties in a four-goal demolition job that put Gillingham in their place, turned a potentially tricky Worthington Cup tie into a formality and gave Colin Todd the perfect pick-me-up.

Beleaguered by a succession of misfortunes in the league, the last thing the Bolton boss wanted was a slip-up against a Second Division team. He asked for a good performance, a positive result and goals from his front men . . . and he got the lot!

In fact the win was so emphatic and the gulf in class so wide that the manager felt the need to issue a mild chastisement to his players for allowing the pace of the game to drop in the first half and conceding a goal in the second.

"A game like this was never going to be easy," he pointed out, "but they made it easy for themselves . . . sometimes a bit too easy!"

Easy is a word managers use sparingly but such was Wanderers' superiority on the night that Gillingham were lucky to escape an even heavier hammering.

Bob Taylor missed a couple of good chances to stretch the advantage going into next Tuesday's return at the Reebok and at times in the second half the game had the appearance of an exhibition match.

The Gills might have taken the lead, in fact they claimed the ball was over the line in the 14th minute when Steve Banks pawed it out; not surprisingly the former Gillingham keeper contradicts the claim.

They might also have made a game of it after Andy Hessenthaler pegged it back to 2-1 10 minutes into the second half but it was a demoralised but honest home boss, Peter Taylor, who admitted at the end: "We were beaten by a better side and it makes the second leg a near-impossibility!"

The former England U-21 coach, glowing in his tributes to the Bolton players, also showed a keen appreciation of the significance of the result. "They were desperate for a win and they did well for their manager."

Todd was grateful. Piling praise on his own players for a job well done, he reckoned they had surprised the sceptics.

"Everybody would have been looking at this game and saying 'Bolton are going to get done!' But all credit to those players. They've shown a terrific attitude, had belief in themselves and, as before against lesser opposition, they have done their jobs well.

"The lesser teams have never caused us problems but people still tend to take it for granted that you will win these games.

"They are all skid-pans though and this one could have been a shock, if the attitude hadn't been right."

For Gudjohnsen it was a night that signalled his intent to instal himself as a fixture in the front line. Relegated to substitute at Charlton after returning from national service with Iceland and the thrill of scoring his first international goal, he was restored to the starting line-up knowing full-well he was under pressure to deliver.

He'd missed a hat-trick of chances in his last start, against Manchester City, and he missed a hat-trick again - but only just.

After the all-action Neil Cox had drilled in a gem of a free kick to give Wanderers the lead on 18 minutes, Gudjohnsen took centre-stage. Anthony Williams denied him with one stunning save but the Gills' keeper was beaten by the power and the pace of the young man's shot just before half-time.

Hessethaler took advantage of some sloppy marking to give the Kent side a ray of hope but normal service was resumed in just four minutes.

One thing Gudjohnsen can never be accused of lacking is confidence and he showed it in abundance when Ricardo Gardner's carefully-weighted pass set him up for his second. Having smartly rounded the keeper, a left foot finish was ruled out by a narrowing angle and a posse of fast-retreating defenders. So, ignoring Taylor, who was positioned for the cross, he dragged the ball back onto his right foot and squeezed a shot just inside the post!

"It's nice to get two goals," he admitted, "just to remind people I can still put them in the net.

"It was good to get a goal in the international and now these two for us . . . I hope I can carry on from here."

After Gudni Bergsson headed the fourth from a Per Frandsen cross, there was still the best part of half-an-hour to go and no-one would have bet against Wanderers stretching their lead.

However, Gillingham created two decent chances - substitute James Pinnock missing the best - and Taylor squandered a couple at the other end.

Gudjohnsen was still hungry for more though and looked like he'd got his reward three minutes from the end when his dipping shot beat Williams only to skid off the top of the crossbar.

It was not surprising to note that Michael Johansen was the provider of that last chance of the game, having so often been the architect - a potent force in a midfield that looked more than just one division superior in class to their opponents.

Wanderers know they must pass much sterner tests than this if they are to pull away from the basement and re-establish themselves as a power in Division One but, after the trials and tribulations of Charlton, Todd believes they have given themselves a fighting chance.

"A result like this can give us the impetus to kick-start our season," he said hopefully.

"We were looking for a performance and a good result to set us up for Barnsley on Saturday.

"We got a resounding win!"

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