Don't freeze out arnar

The boos were still ringing in his ears, the taunts of 'greedy' from his own fans leaving him in no doubt who the more vocal sections of the Reebok crowd considered the villain of the piece.

Now he's probably thinking there is no way back after trumping the club's final contract offer with a transfer request.

Holdsworth, meanwhile, is more confident and more effective than at any time since his £3.5 million transfer from Wimbledon; confident enough for Colin Todd to acknowledge: "He looks the player I brought him here to be."

But, as Wanderers set their sights on catching Sunderland and Holdsworth locked onto a personal target to end the season as top scorer, the manager also had comforting words for the errant Icelander.

"One of the difficulties Dean had was that he felt the supporters weren't behind him," Todd suggested, looking back on the days his record signing struggled to live up to the high fee and even higher expectations. "But he has a manager who is right behind him, just as I am right behind all my players. And, even though Arnar Gunnlaugsson has asked for a transfer, I'm still right behind him."

Despite claiming his transfer request was motivated by "pure greed" Todd has treated his 14-goal top scorer with a measure of sympathy and understanding, pointing the finger accusingly at his advisor rather than the player himself.

And there were moments during a 15-minute cameo appearance as Wanderers clipped the wings of Bruce Rioch's Canaries that Gunnlaugsson showed flashes of the talent that are an unquestionable asset to the club - on the bank balance if not on the field.

"Any club in the First Division would take him," Rioch suggested as he enviously ran down the list of the talent at Todd's disposal, "and quite a few in the Premiership would take him too."

Indeed, it's only a matter of weeks ago, when he was still the revelation of the Nationwide League, that the suggestion that Gunnlaugsson could be greeted by a chorus of boos while Holdsworth left the field to a rousing ovation would have invited ridicule.

How things have changed in this tale of two strikers.

The likeable Londoner was positively beaming after sending Wanderers on their way to a fourth successive win with his crisply converted eighth goal of the season, his third in two games; delighted that his efforts are finally being recognised.

"It's goals that breed confidence," he agreed, "and the two I got at Sheffield did me a lot of good. I felt more confident going out there on Saturday than I have in probably any other game since I came here. "It was good to score again, of course, but I'm delighted to hear that some of my other work is being appreciated too. I was pleased with what I did, for instance, in the build up to Neil Cox's goal.

"Strikers only get judged on goals, I accept that, but some people don't recognise or choose to ignore the other work you do. But I'm not worried about that. I know my job, I'm part of this club and the gaffer knows I work hard. Unfortunately you get a few people who don't.

"There is more to Dean Holdsworth than scoring goals but I would like to be top scorer at the end of the season. I'm not saying I will be but I'd take a lot of pride from that."

There is still a long way to go on both fronts - the push for the Premiership and the Top Gun title - but, whatever happens in the healthy contest between Holdsworth, Gunnlaugsson and the estimable Bob Taylor, whose tireless efforts set the standard, there's no question Wanderers are looking good for one of the two automatic promotion places.

In successive games they have shown they have the will as well as the skill to succeed.

Despite a record which showed just one win in their previous seven games, Norwich were no pushovers. They strung up a yellow curtain in front of Andy Marshall, snapped at everything in midfield and, in Keith O'Neill, had a raider who was always a threat. But Wanderers don't just take some beating these clean sheet days; they still take some stopping. Undeterred after a string of promising and purposeful attacks had amounted to nothing more than one unfortunate Taylor miss and a series of blocked shots, they pegged away and got their reward when Holdsworth collected an angled ball from Claus Jensen and finished with two tidy touches to take full advantage as the offside flag stayed down.

If he'd shown the same clinical finishing when Michael Johansen's inviting cross rounded off terrific work by the Three Danes, Wanderers would have had the game safe in the 54th minute.

They'd had a fortunate let off just before half-time when Chris Llewellyn missed Norwich's best chance, superbly set up by O'Neill, and Neil Cox got the benefit of a lucky ricochet before superbly tucking away his first goal since he helped Wanderers grab a Premiership lifeline at Aston Villa last April. But take nothing away from Todd's terriers, who are now just eight points adrift of Sunderland and with a game in hand that must have Peter Reid looking anxiously over his shoulder.

Forget Bradford and the rest, Wanderers are now the biggest threat to the runaway leaders. More solid in defence than at any time this season and with their scoring potential seemingly undiminished by Nathan Blake's departure or Gunnlaugsson's fall from grace, they also boast a midfield that is providing assistance to the former and service to the latter in equal measures.

No quartet in the division can offer the same all-round attacking qualities as Johansen, Jensen, Frandsen and Sellars and, while there isn't a 'hard man' amongst them, their improved organisation, discipline and workrate has become a vital asset to the defence. Do they have the strength in depth? Rioch certainly believes they have, considering his comments after his first visit to the Reebok.

The former Wanderers boss looked no further than the subs bench where, in addition to Gunnlaugsson, Todd also had special reserves. "Gardner is another international, who has played in the World Cup," he added, "and Robbie Elliott is full of experience. I know he's had his injury . . . but he's played Premiership football.

"The bench is strong and there are other players they can call upon."

They almost had to! In fact, 24 hours earlier Todd had written off Paul Warhurst and, with serious doubts about Per Frandsen, staged his final practice session with Elliott at centre-back and Gardner on the left of midfield.

"Per had a virus and was running a temperature while Paul was still struggling with his calf," the manager explained.

"I didn't know whether either of them would play. Paul saw a specialist Friday morning and was virtually ruled out until a scan in the afternoon revealed that there wasn't a tear but a little blood vessel. We were told there'd be no damage done if he played. Then Per came in on Saturday morning and said he was fine.

"Suddenly, from having one side on Friday, I was back to the team I was going to play all along. Poor Robbie thought he was going to get a game but he took the news ever so well, which typifies the spirit in the club.

"I look at it as a squad of 18 and everyone's champing at the bit."

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