By Gordon Sharrock: Bolton Wanderers 3, Crystal Palace 0 THE latest chapter of the gospel according to Colin Todd brought a convincing victory and a challenge to any remaining non-believers. The Wanderers boss, concerned that there are pockets of fans in the Reebok ranks who still need convincing, says the doubters should look around.

"Some of our supporters should go and have a look at how other teams play," he suggested after Crystal Palace became the latest victims of his style council.

"They might just have a shock!"

Todd is proud of the way his team plays - as are many supporters who have seen an early-season change of formation and a recent improvement on the defensive front take Wanderers - unbeaten in 10 games - within striking distance of an automatic promotion place.

But he still feels the need to spread the word - an evangelist who has learned from one of the game's masters.

"When I was at Derby, Brian Clough had a certain way of playing which brought success. But he had to educate the supporters there and that's what I feel I have to do here.

"As far as I am concerned, the brand of football we are playing is excellent. "You can't get any better than what we are achieving at the moment. We've had our critics; supporters have had their little digs but we've got to be patient. We're playing in the right manner, we're moving the ball well, we have excellent players and excellent players to come back into the squad..

"Other managers might have their own ways of playing the game but I believe in the way we play and I won't change that philosophy. We will continue to get the players to express themselves."

And, putting yesterday afternoon's performance into stark perspective, he added pointedly: "Terry Venables has been the England coach but I didn't see much from his side!"

Indeed, Wanderers' victory was so comprehensive - secured in an almost embarrassingly one-sided first half - that the Palace boss felt he had to reserve judgment on the calibre and potential of Todd's team.

"We started so poorly," he reasoned perversely, "that we didn't give ourselves a fair shot at seeing what they (Bolton) were made of."

Well, just in case you missed it Tel, here's what Wanderers are made of:

a well-balanced attacking team that is encouraged to move the ball quickly, precisely and incisively;

an array of goalscorers with an eye for the main chance;

a defence that is looking meaner with every clean sheet;

and a team spirit that was forged when things weren't going so well and now appears to strengthen with every game. A goal after just three minutes went a long way to setting the pattern - Wanderers playing with confidence and discipline while Palace were dispirited and disorganised.

Victories won't always come so easy: Bob Taylor was afforded the kind of space any centre-forward would die for when he headed home a well-aimed Scott Sellars' free kick; Michael Johansen had the cheek and talent to artfully dodge past one defender before threading a perfectly-struck right-footer between two others to beat Kevin Miller's dive; and Claus Jensen couldn't have dreamed he'd be allowed to race clear of a square, offside-seeking Palace defence to confidently round the keeper and tuck in his first league goal.

Venables, whose cause wasn't helped when star striker Matt Jansen cried off because of mounting transfer speculation linking him with Newcastle, found fault with all three goals. He claimed Mark Fish had fouled Hayden Mullins before the Palace defender was penalised for the foul that led to the first, "schoolboy" defending opened the door for Johansen to score the second, and Jensen was offside for the third!

But there was no question Wanderers deserved their insurmountable half-time lead, their eventual win and their elevation to fifth in the table on a weekend when the cat really got among the promotion pigeons.

Palace hardly posed a threat, didn't get their first shot on target until the 55th minute, never really looked like scoring and prompted Todd to nickname his keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen "The Forgotten Man" for having so small a part to play.

The Finn, in fact, was one of the few Bolton players who didn't figure in the great Man of the Match debate.

Jensen, elegant, inventive and penetrative with the ball, received the Sky TV vote but he was run close by his fellow Danes and midfield partners - Per Frandsen with his lung-busting, driving efforts edging it for my money and Johansen, whose darting runs and defensive covering are making him a more effective flank man with every appearance. With Sellars' astute contributions, whether wide or central, Todd's midfield had a well-rounded look that Palace simply couldn't match.

Even in the second half when the Eagles managed to restore a modicum of pride after the first half procession, the Bolton attacks were channelled swiftly and fluently through a harmonised midfield - illustrated when Whitlow, Sellars and Frandsen transported the ball from one penalty area to the other, where Taylor unfortunately lost his footing - while Palace's were disjointed and ponderous - as when Johansen funnelled back to frustrate Lee Bradbury.

There is no question that the turning point of the season came when Todd decided he had to shore up his suspect defence and the part Paul Warhurst played during his six-match loan spell then yesterday as a fully-fledged Wanderer playing against his former club cannot be underestimated.

He looked class at every touch of the ball, whether breaking up Palace attacks or as the instigator of moves he instinctively directed through midfield. At his side, Fish didn't put a foot wrong and, encouraged by his sortie which led to the opening goal, gave the fans plenty to cheer with his exciting excursions from the back. Venables, who is all the poorer for the loss of Warhurst, sounded as though he'd got the rough end of the £800,000 deal that was concluded last week. "From the first day, Paul said he wanted to go back to the North. His family was back up there," the Palace boss explained.

"There was no future in that for us. I am well aware that he's a good player and I thought it was a bit strange that our club let him sign at a time when we were going to play against him!"

No goal joy for Arnar Gunnlaugsson on his return to the side at the expense of Dean Holdsworth but the Icelander kept the Palace defenders on their toes and should have had a penalty on the stroke of half-time when he was brought down by Sagi Burton.

The protests amounted to nothing more than a whimper since the game had effectively been over as a contest for the best part of 10 minutes.

Jensen, relieved and delighted to have broken his league 'duck' summed up: "We played tremendously in the first half and in the second we just concentrated on keeping a clean sheet and hoped to get a few more goals.

"It was all over after the first half."

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