Wanderers 3

HUDDERSFIELD 0 GUDNI Bergsson put a hand to his mouth for a quick check and smiled: "Three points, a clean sheet and my teeth are still there. I'm delighted!" The captain's two recent trips to the dentist bore testimony to the fact that life has not been easy at the heart of the Bolton defence: more uncomfortable for some than others considering his own first half substitution at Crewe last time out.

But all that changed on Saturday when Wanderers combined breathtaking football and an iron-willed determination to knock Huddersfield off the top of the table and underline their own title aspirations.

Hence Bergsson's satisfaction and toothy grin.

"I took a knock in the Birmingham game. I lost one tooth and had to have another taken out because it was loose," he explained. "I had two temporary crowns put in but they got knocked out early on against Crewe so it was back to the dentist again.

"Actually I did get a knock on Saturday and, when I saw there was some blood in my mouth, I thought 'Here we go again!' but thankfully, everything was okay this time."

In fact it was smiles all round after this most comprehensive demolition of a side that arrived at the Reebok as proud league leaders after five successive wins.

By half time they'd been deposed by an attacking performance Colin Todd described as "frightening" and which left Terriers boss Peter Jackson bowing to their all-round superiority - in much the same way as Birmingham boss Trevor Francis a fortnight earlier .

Wanderers were a delight to watch. Vibrant, inventive, skilful and extremely entertaining in the first half; solid, organised and resilient in the second.

Peter Reid's Sunderland might have something to say about it when they visit the Reebok on November 1 but, on the strength of such an exciting and hard working performance, it's hard to imagine a better side in the division.

Jackson saw his forwards snuffed out, his midfield over-run and outclassed and his defence reduced to a shambles - to such a degree that he made no issue of the two rejected penalty appeals that brought him to the touchline during the second half.

The down-to-earth Huddersfield boss always rated Wanderers, now he has no doubt in his mind that the two automatic promotion places are spoken for.

"Bolton are the best team we've played by far," he declared. "The top two sides in this division are Bolton and Sunderland and, for the rest of us - maybe 10 or 12 teams - it's a scramble for the four play-off places."

It was obvious by half-time that Huddersfield had only been keeping the top seat warm for a more accomplished outfit. They'd been exposed as imposters by an adventurous, free-scoring attack that has no equal at this level.

Per Frandsen's opener - his fourth goal in five starts - was straight off the training ground, the product of a well-rehearsed corner routine, which ended with the Dane racing in at the back post to volley home Arnar Gunnlaugsson's deep cross. The second and third goals were right off the cuff - the result of supremely talented individuals combining effectively to convert their dominance of lesser opponents.

Nathan Blake had the time and determination to smash a volley over the line at the second attempt after Nico Vaesen had instinctively blocked his header and Kevin Gray's headed-clearance had bounced down off the bar. The build-up, involving Gunnlaugsson, Claus Jensen and Ricardo Gardner, culminating in Michael Johansen's pinpoint cross from the right, deserved nothing less. Brimming with self-belief, Gunnlaugsson has been the revelation of the Nationwide League but he has never shown such supreme confidence - almost arrogance - as that which brought him his seventh goal of the season. He still had a lot to do when he collected Neil Cox's cross but he made it look so simple, feigning to go to his favoured left then switching to the right, creating space for the shot.

"I was just glad to go in at half-time only 3-0 down," Jackson admitted. "It could have been worse. We kept it a bit tighter in the second half but the game was already over.

"We didn't compete with them, we couldn't match them for effort and determination and I think they wanted to win this game more than us. And they had the better quality players to do it."

The attacking quality has never been questioned and it's an awesome prospect for their Division One rivals to consider that Wanderers are getting even better.

Relationships are blossoming all over the park: the forward-thinking of Cox and the darting skills of Johansen on the right flank; the wise Whitlow linking with the mesmerising Gardner on the left. Frandsen and Johansen - team-mates prior to their joint-transfer to Bolton - have always had a special understanding and that is being balanced on the left of midfield where talented new arrivals Jensen and Gardner are quickly getting to know each other. On the ball Wanderers are a joy to watch and with finishers like Blake and the gregarious Gunnlaugsson, they will always take some stopping. But the fact that the defence has at last been included in the plaudits was one of the most significant and satisfying points to come out of the 12th game of the unbeaten run.

Having played Huddersfield "off the park" as Todd described the first half, Wanderers were mindful of previous occurrences when they'd been punished for being over-adventurous and not being organised enough defensively. The clean sheet became their prime objective.

Frandsen confirmed: "There has been a lot of talk in the dressing room about our defending, especially after the 4-4 draw at Crewe.

"You could see in the second half that me and Claus were sitting back to help the defence when, in the first half, we'd been getting forward a lot more."

Bergsson and Mark Fish were afforded more protection and no-one benefited more than Jussi Jaaskelainen who, apart from having his nose broken when he took an elbow in the face from Wayne Allison, was never exposed and rarely threatened. "The clean sheet was important," the Finland keeper acknowledged. "At Crewe, when we were 4-2 up, we tried to get a fifth or a sixth goal and we didn't defend well. This time we were much better."

Bergsson was delighted but determined to keep his team-mates' feet on the ground.

"I don't want to tempt fate," he said, warily. "Let's have a few more clean sheets before we brag about how solid we are at the back.

"It's no secret that we've not been happy with the amount of goals we've been letting in but we know we can do better than we have been doing defensively. We were aware of what happened at Crewe last weekend and, although 3-0 up at half-time, we were urging each other on and talking about not letting them back into the game. That's why we were so happy with the second half as well as the first.

"We scored some wonderful goals and showed some great movement in that first half but we knew we had to be resilient too." Todd's not getting carried away either but he's rightly proud of the football his team is playing, delighted with the talent he has assembled and pleased to see them working hard.

"There's a long way to go," he cautioned. "We have quality players but without workrate and effort, it means nothing.

"We have great individual qualities but they have to be harnessed into a team. The players are all blessed with talent but there is more to come from them and more to come from us.

"I'm a hard man to please but on Saturday you could see the class. It stood out. From 1-11 it was frightening stuff."

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