A Bridge too far for Wanderers

They took it to the last minute of the last game of the season before finally accepting their relegation fate.

An entire nation, apart from the blue half of Merseyside, wanted it to be so different but the gallant fight for Premiership survival came to an end at 5.50 yesterday evening when referee Alan Wilkie blew his whistle at Stamford Bridge and, almost simultaneously, Paul Alcock sounded his at Goodison Park.

It was high drama right to the bitter end. They were not to know it at the time but with 17 minutes to go, Wanderers were actually right on course.

At that point Everton were leading Coventry but were destined to finish 1-1, which meant all Colin Todd's bravehearts needed was a point.

Even after player-manager-hero Gianluca Vialli gave his side the lead, it was only going to take one lucky strike to turn the nightmare into a dream - and didn't the Chelsea fans know it! In one of the most bizarre experiences ever witnessed in a Premiership game, they were on their feet actually willing Wanderers to score - knowing an equaliser would send Everton down.

Almost predictably, one last, desperate push left the back door open and young Jody Morris stole in. All that was left was to pray that news would come through from Merseyside that Coventry had satched a last-gasp winner.

It was not to be. As the news sank in, grown men wept, torturing themselves at the thought of what might have been. Understandably the disallowed goal against Everton on the opening night at the Reebok Stadium eight months ago figured prominently.

It was a bitterly painful experience.

Relegation is never an easy pill to swallow but on goal difference and under these circumstances..!

"Five goals!" Per Frandsen exclaimed in disbelief. "I can hardly bear to think of it."

Everton can thank their lucky stars - not for the first time - and there will be consolences and genuine sympathy for Wanderers. But no-one emerging from the visitors' dressing room was in any mood to hear platitudes.

They were deeply wounded, stunned by the consequences of having lost an entire season's hopes and aspirations on the events of one sweltering afternoon. And all for the want of a point!

"No-one said a thing for half an hour in the dressing room," Jimmy Phillips revealed as he held his emotions in check long enough to sum up the players' feelings.

"There was just a deafening silence as it sunk in that we had gone down, knowing we'd only had to draw the game. The sad thing is that we were holding Chelsea well - and we'd had our chances to score. You always know when you're on top, that you have to take your chances - especially so in this league."

It was as though fate had decreed that the story of the season would be told in the final 90 minutes! Wanderers are where they are because they have failed to make the most of their chances, been unable to turn draws into wins when they've had the opportunities, and been caught so often by swift, penetrative counter-attacks.

They failed yesterday because they didn't take their chances and were punished mercilessly when Chelsea took theirs.

No recriminations, just the bold facts of the matter which Wanderers must accept in the way Barnsley and Crystal Palace already have. It might seem tough getting into the Premier League but it's even tougher to stay there.

The Great Escape theme was reaching its loudest around the half hour mark when Chelsea had theirs - Frank Leboeuf unwittingly getting his head in the way of a deflected John Sheridan shot that had beaten Ed De Goey and two minutes later, Frandsen sprinting 70 yards before rounding the keeper and stroking the ball towards an empty net ... only for Dennis Wise to appear from nowhere to hack it clear!

"I felt then that it might not be going for us," a disconsolate Todd reflected.

"But I can't fault my players for their efforts on the day and throughout the season. In fact I want to thank them for the tremendous effort they have put in.

"But anything I say to them now won't sink in because of the deep disappointment they are all feeling. I know how they feel because I'm feeling it too.

"We earned the right to play in the Premiership and I honestly believed we were good enough to stay there.

"It is heartbreaking for me as a manager and I can tell you there were one or two with tears in their eyes in the dressing room. It's a big and bitter disappointment for us all. I know they will get over it but it will take time."

Suggestions that Chelsea would shirk their responsibility to the Premier League and field a weakened side were rubbished the minute the teams were announced. The starting line-up might well have been missing a handful of players who might start in the European Cup Winners Cup Final against Stuttgart on Wednesday but it still looked useful and was strengthened even more when Vialli, Poyet and Di Matteo joined in at half time.

The Chelsea fans, who had already seen their team qualify for Europe next season on two counts - their league position and the Coca-Cola Cup - turned the afternoon into a carnival. It cannot have been an comfortable atmosphere for Wanderers but they warmed to it and had the best of the first half chances.

News of Everton's early goal failed to dent the spirits of the Bolton fans, some of whom had travelled in fancy dress and others, with a sense of occasion, who'd played a video of the Great Escape on the coach journey to London. "One goal, we only need one goal!" they chanted to the tune of "Blue Moon" then, when Mr Wilkie and his linesman allowed Steve Clarke to get away with a blatant foul on Alan Thompson, they asked "Are you Scousers in disguise?"

The half-time substitutes gave Chelsea extra attacking dimensions, which gave the Wanderers defence a real run for its money. It took vital interventions by Gerry Taggart, Mark Fish and Neil Cox on Morris, Mark Hughes and Vialli respectively (Cox perhaps lucky to escape with a yellow card for his) to keep the scores level.

But Chelsea finally got the breakthrough within three minutes of an injury to Gudni Bergsson, which prompted Todd to add Michael Johansen to his midfield and switch to a flat back four.

"You can't say the change was the cause of us getting beat," said Taggart, who confessed to being at fault for the Vialli goal. "But if we'd have been a bit more tuned in and concentrating, we might have coped better.

"But the heat didn't help. I could barely run for the last 10 minutes and I was absolutely exhausted after the game. With heat exhaustion, your mind doesn't work as quickly and when Vialli came on he showed he was fresher and more alert.

"We managed to lift ourselves because we heard the crowd cheering and knew something was happening at Everton. We had a couple of half chances then they just broke away and scored the killer second goal."

There was genuine belief in the Bolton camp that, having revived their survival hopes with five wins in their previous nine games, they could avoid another instant return to the Nationwide League.

An infinitely better side than two years ago and with the club in a better position all round, they finished on 40 points - 11 more than in '96.

"We've taken it to the last game of the season," Todd said, shaking his head, "and we've gone down on goal difference.

"It's a terrible experience. We hit the highs last season and now we've hit the low.

"What might have been just hasn't been.

"We came very close to that Great Escape but it just wasn't to be."

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