JIMMY Phillips can appreciate what every anxious Bolton Wanderers supporter is going through.

After all, he was one himself and has suffered the pain of seeing his heroes relegated from the top flight.

"I was a big fan of the team in the Ian Greaves era that had two seasons in the old First Division," the Reebok defender recalls of the exciting and equally promising late-Seventies.

"I remember the disappointment of seeing that team relegated and I can assure the supporters it's no different being on this side of the fence.

"Living in Bolton and speaking to people in the street, it's obvious how much they want the club to do well because everything's in place for Premiership football. But the players are determined too. We've been preparing for games correctly and training hard. It's just that there's a big difference between the two leagues.

"Last year we'd be winning games like the Tottenham game. Maybe we rode our luck a little bit from time to time but we stuck our chances away when they came. That just hasn't been happening this season while other teams have been clinical in their finishing.

"We were naive last time in the Premiership. We've been a lot stronger this time but we've been hit by a lot of injuries.

"There's certainly no shortage of motivation though. Everyone would much rather be playing in front of a full house at the Reebok and against some of the world's top internationals at grounds like White Hart Lane and Anfield rather than at some of the lesser grounds of the First Division."

That explains why Phillips and his Wanderers team-mates stubbornly refuse to concede defeat in the fight for survival.

No-one is denying the defeat at Spurs dealt them a heavy blow but, with 11 games remaining, they still believe they can escape.

The chances of the miracle cure starting at Liverpool tomorrow appear to be as remote as a sudden shower of World Cup tickets falling on Lancaster Gate. But some of Wanderers' better performances have been against the better placed clubs and they take heart from having already taken a point from the Scousers.

"People can see the league table for themselves. That was a bad defeat for us at Tottenham because once again we've failed to beat one of the teams down there at the bottom with us. But it's far too early to write us off," Phillips insists.

"I remember my first time in the Premiership with Middlesbrough. We were beaten at home by Oldham round about this stage of the season and everyone had us down and out. But it wasn't until the second last game that we were relegated.

"We went from doom and gloom to actually having a chance.

"There's no way it's over with yet. After Spurs losing at Leeds, a win tomorrow could make things look much different.

"Look at Coventry. If we'd beaten them at the Reebok, we would have overtaken them. But they beat us and they haven't looked back. They are proof of how quickly things can change.

"We just need a win to get us going because we have been ever so close. Look at the number of games we've drawn and the fact that we've lost fewer than many of the teams above us. We've just got to turn those draws into wins.

"It's a fine dividing line." Phillips came as close as anyone to earning Wanderers a point until Spurs' giant Norwegian keeper Espen Baardsen appeared from nowhere to tip his 20-yard right-footer round the post 14 minutes from time. Earlier, he had supplied the telling, angled pass to Dean Holdsworth who would have won a second minute penalty - if only referee Peter Jones been on the ball.

Plaudits for his impressive all-round performance contrasted starkly to some of the criticism he has suffered at times this season when some supporters have been less appreciative of his honest endeavours.

Yet this particular 32-year-old has learned to take nothing for granted. Even though he is now the only fit, experienced left back on Colin Todd's register, he admits to having no idea whether he will be in the starting line-up at Anfield.

It's an insecurity born out of the experience of having been overlooked on various occasions and having to play out of position as a short-term solution to the manager's right-back problems. (The 1-1 draw with Liverpool at the Reebok in September being one occasion when he emerged with honours after a nightmare start in that unaccustomed role!)

Phillips originally dropped down the pecking order when Robbie Elliott was signed for £2.3 million to take his place and, when tragedy struck the young Geordie, Todd went into the market again to sign Mike Whitlow for £700,000.

Now Whitlow has been ruled out for the season, it's over to Phillips again - the player who made his Wanderers' debut 14 years ago and numbers his appearances for the club at 356 in two spells either side of stints with Rangers, Oxford and Boro.

Despite the setbacks and the criticism and the spells on the sidelines, he remains as committed to the cause as he did in those early days under John McGovern's stewardship.

"The manager's brought in two left backs and played Gudni Bergsson there," he says without a hint of rancour. "But I've just taken it on the chin, trained as hard as I can and given it my best shot when I've been selected. That's all you can do.

"I've never felt under any pressure when I've been brought back in.

"I've spent the last six or seven years of my career either fighting relegation or going for promotion. So pressure is something you get used to."

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