Port Vale 0, Bolton Wanderers 2 DEAN Holdsworth ended a succession of lows with a rare high that suggests he could have a happy New Year to look forward to with Wanderers. The striker has had to endure an uneasy alliance with the fans since his high price arrival. But the sound of his name being boomed out around Vale Park gives him at least one good memory to see out the old year with.

After justifying his return to the side with a hard working display 48 hours earlier, the striker offered concrete evidence of the impact he is capable of making on a promotion bid.

He brilliantly made the first goal, won and converted a penalty for the second and was unlucky not to have scored at least one more. But it was his all round play which really took the eye.

Constantly hungry for the ball, he was a willing and able target man who made intelligent runs, rarely surrendered possession and got through his fair share of defensive duties.

But he was just one piece of a formidable jigsaw which produced the kind of solid and slick performance that only Wanderers, Sunderland and possibly Ipswich are capable of.

There were no weak links and no lapses in concentration which is crucial against a side down on its luck and fighting for its life.

The professionalism was as impressive as the performance. Wanderers were in constant control from first whistle to last, slowly but surely dismantling the opposition until all that was left was a shell of a side which knew it had been well beaten by its betters. The only disappointment was that the margin of victory was kept down to two.

It would be wrong to get carried away by a victory over a side which has taken five points out of the last 33 and has conceded two or more goals in 10 out of the last 11 games.

But the way the mission was accomplished will no doubt awaken the likes of Sunderland and Ipswich to the fact that a serious challenger for one of the automatic promotion spots is creeping up behind them. Port Vale were allowed a meagre two efforts on goal by a defence which is becoming accustomed to the habit acquired by all winning teams of keeping clean sheets.

The latest shutout means Colin Todd's men have conceded just three goals in their last eight matches, a run which stretches back to the day the first of Wanderers' two recent defensive loan signings made his debut.

And Neil Cox believes they are still benefiting from the legacy of Jon Newsome. "It was a shame Jon had to go back, both he and Paul Warhurst have done good jobs for us," said the right back.

"Jon got us organised but now he's gone Mark Fish has come in and just taken over from him.

"We are defending well as a team now and when you've got people working hard on their defensive duties in front of you it makes it much easier for the back four.

"We have to keep it going. We are not conceding goals and we know we have always got a chance of winning because we have got three strikers who are all capable of putting a goal in for us."

After Saturday's disappointing showing in front of goal it was important that Wanderers recaptured their cutting edge. And with Arnar Gunnlaugsson still out of favour and Bob Taylor having a rare off day with his final touch, it was up to Holdsworth to produce the goods. He didn't disappoint.

His part in the opening goal three minutes after the break was vital and inspirational. When Taylor's deflected cross from the by-line looped to Holdsworth he surprised everyone with a flying overhead kick into the path of Scott Sellars who drove his first goal of the season in off Vale defender Michael Walsh.

Wanderers' grip remained vice-like but they needed a second to kill off a Port Vale resistance based more on hope than expectation. And Holdsworth provided it when he made keeper Kevin Pilkington pay the ultimate price for miskicking straight into his path 16 minutes from time.

Collecting the ball 35 yards out, he raced in ahead of two defenders and pushed the ball past Pilkington who dragged him to the ground. Holdsworth got up and capped a memorableday by stroking the spot kick just inside the keeper's left hand post.

Pilkington was the villain on that occasion but he could be forgiven that blunder after his earlier heroics had kept his side in the game.

He pulled off two vital saves to keep ferocious efforts from Fish and Per Frandsen out of the bottom corner and threw his body in the way of a close range strike by Taylor who really should have given the keeper no chance from such a glorious position. Holdsworth, too, could have done better with a 30-yard effort on an unguarded goal that drifted wide and with a close range shot from an albeit difficult angle after Sellars had found him with a masterful piece of vision. But he was unlucky with a lunging shot from another glorious Sellars' cross that Pilkington again did well to stop.

While Holdsworth took the eye up front, Fish carried on where he left off against Bradford with another outstanding performance at the back and Sellars was the class act of the midfield and the game.

His control and distribution were straight out of the Premiership in which he could still certainly live and the good news for Wanderers is that this important influence finally believes he is hitting peak form after his early season injury problems.

"I feel like I'm now getting back to full fitness," said the team's elder statesman who was particularly glad to get his scoring tally off the mark with such an important goal.

"The longer we failed to take our chances the longer they remained in there with a fighting chance.

"We were in control of the game right through and we just needed that first goal to knock the confidence out of Port Vale.

"The confidence in our side is great at the moment. We now believe we can keep clean sheets and there is not the same anxiety now that we might concede goals.

"Earlier in the season when we were winning we might have been a bit anxious about going forward in case we conceded but now we are confident to carry on going forward and looking for more goals."

Todd was delighted with both the quality his side produced and their ability to keep it going for 90 minutes.

"At half time their manager would have told his players we couldn't sustain it for the whole game but we did and we got our rewards," he said.

"It is very difficult to dictate a game the way we did and the whole team did their jobs superbly.

"Michael Johansen coming back in gave us the balance which was lacking on Saturday. A goal always looked like coming and to get one so early in the second half was welcome.

"In the end we could have won by more."

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