Charlton 2 Wanderers 1 THE sight of a breakdown truck arriving at The Valley to tow away the stricken team coach symbolised the physical wreckage of another miserable afternoon for Wanderers.

But while mechanics set about repairing the fault that had immobilised the vehicle, Colin Todd faced up to the trickier task of mending the psychological damage inflicted on his beleaguered players.

In the state they are in at the moment, he'd be forgiven for preferring overalls and spanners to tracksuit and team talks.

The manager is under no illusions. Six games into the season he knows he is fighting a desperate battle to maintain confidence in the dressing room.

It doesn't help to know that he will lose the services of his best defender and his captain for crucial games after a rash of red and yellow cards effectively wrecked any hope of success on the south bank of the Thames.

And it bothers him even more that he doesn't have the scope to bring in reinforcements to perk up a squad that is much the same as last season's but, on current form, has lost its way.

After the summer of discontent and financial frustration, the only way Wanderers were going to inspire their doubting fans was by winning games. But that is not happening and the situation, sadly, appears to be going from bad to worse.

They knew they faced a tough opening programme - a series of fixtures which would provide an early indication of their prospects for the season. One win in six games and precariously perched just one point off the foot of the table suggests they're in for a rough ride. They had hoped to be laying the foundation for another tilt at promotion but, at this stage, they are looking at damage limitation

On the personal front, Todd has always acknowledged that he will, sooner or later, be judged on results and, right now, things do not look good on that score.

"Football's about winning games," he accepts, "and at the moment we just aren't doing that. "It's up to me, as the manager, to make sure things start to go for us."

Wanderers know, however, that if the fates continue to conspire against them as they did on Saturday, they will be fighting an uphill battle.

Long-standing Bolton fans will remember only too well the 1983 fixture at The Valley when an Ian Moores goal midway through the second half put John McGovern's team in sight of a last day relegation escape. But the wheels came off that survival bandwagon and the result - a 4-1 defeat - had shattering and long-lasting consequences.

That painful memory flashed back as Charlton - roared on by a hostile full-house - came from behind once again, cancelling out Michael Johansen's 11th minute lead, mercilessly punishing some poor defending and again inflicting serious damage.

This time, of course, Wanderers have time to recover but, looking at the current squad of players, there are few who haven't been scarred by the events of the first handful of games.

Todd has chopped and changed his goal-starved strikers, been forced to make do and mend in midfield in the absence of Claus Jensen and, after a promising start, been prompted to wield the axe in defence. That measure, he admits now, backfired.

"I left out Greg Strong because of what was obviously a little bit of inexperience and just to give him a bit of a breather after the mistake in the Birmingham game," the manager explained, "and Gudni Bergsson has come in and done the same. He didn't see the danger and let us down with the second goal.

"I changed the personnel to get it right and it's rebounded!"

That 50th minute strike by Clive Mendonca, so often a thorn in Wanderers' side, was effectively the killer blow. Honours were even at half-time: a goal apiece after Graham Stuart had bravely launched himself between Bergsson and Mike Whitlow to head home John Robinson's cross and both teams down to 10 men after Stuart and Andy Todd had thrown punches in a needless flare-up in the second minute of overtime. The Bolton man had actually won the foul before being needled into throwing the ball at his adversary and grabbing him by the throat!

It was Martin Pringle, the Swede who was rumoured to be on his way to the Reebok before he joined the Addicks from Benfica last season, who landed the significant blow though, sending Bergsson the wrong way with a neat reverse pass and leaving his co-striker so much space, he could hardly miss!

Charlton, who'd looked ominously threatening in the first half with Robinson and Shaun Newton raiding on the flanks, looked capable of winning by a more comfortable margin. But Wanderers, ironically, had the better chaces - even after Whitlow was sent off for what referee Paul Robinson regarded as a second bookable offence 19 minutes from time.

Few observers - other than his manager - had much to say in defence of Todd Jnr. That notorious short fuse, that got him in trouble with Stan Collymore in the Premiership, let him down again. But the captain was the victim of a bizarre sequence of events when he walked for only the second time in his long career.

Booked for time-wasting after just 15 minutes, when he took too long over a thrown-in, Whitlow got away with a couple of hefty challenges in the second half. But he argued fiercely that he'd pulled out of the tackle on Greg Shields that led to his dismissal and it's not surprising to learn that he has asked the referee to look at the match video and reconsider his decision.

"I think he just tested the referee's patience," Alan Curbishley suggested. "I don't know how many tackles he was involved in before he was sent off!"

The Charlton boss had no sympathy either for Todd Jnr or his own man, Stuart. "They were both stupid getting involved in something like that," he said. "It wasn't a life or death situation and I think both of them will be very disappointed."

Todd Snr felt the referee should have used "a bit of common sense" dealing with the first incident, which he believed erupted up in "the heat of the moment" but he was severely critical of the official over the Whitlow dismissal.

"It was farcical," he argued, "absolutely farcical! He was booked for time-wasting in the first 20 minutes then he's been booked for a tackle he's pulled out of."

Despite the handicap, Wanderers managed to fashion late chances that might have salvaged a point.

Per Frandsen, who'd rescued a point almost single-handedly six days earlier, almost did it again but former Bury keeper Dean Kiely managed to block his shot at the near post and a header, teed up by Eidur Gudjohnsen from Ricardo Gardner's deep cross, flashed wide of the target.

Bob Taylor, who'd been sent on with Gudjohnsen as Dean Holdsworth and Bo Hansen toiled in the heat, was even closer but for Wanderers, this was a day when anything that could go wrong did go wrong.

There was much for them to ponder on the unscheduled flight home!

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