Wanderers 2

READING 1 JOHN McGinlay milked the applause of another hugely appreciative Burnden audience then warned the fans: "Teams are so frightened of coming here they are going to try to spoil your fun."

The Great Scot, who is into the fifth year of his romance with the Wanderers fans wrote yet another amazing chapter to his incredible life story on another night of high drama.

Not content with nudging his name to the top of the club's goal charts with his 12th of the season and what turned out to be the matchwinner, McGinlay then stole the limelight as emergency goalkeeper for a tension-packed half-hour as Wanderers held out to take three more valuable points towards their promotion collection.

Then he put the fans on their guard. "Reading came to spoil the game and that's the legacy of the respect we're getting off certain teams. It's not nice for supporters but it's something we've got to learn to deal with."

Whatever the opposition try, with McGinlay around there will never be a dull moment. One save, three minutes from the end - one-handed going high to his left - kept out a James Lambert header and brought the house down.

Little wonder Keith Branagan raced on at the end to lift him high into the night air and lead the glowing tributes.

"What a hero!" said the relieved keeper, whose 62nd minute sending off turned a relatively uninspiring game into a nerve-jangling thriller. "He scores the winner, goes in goal and makes a save like that."

Such is the reputation of Scottish keepers that there are those who reckon Craig Brown could do worse than to use McGinlay in goal. But the Burnden hero will settle for one of the strikers' shirts when the Scotland boss names his squad tomorrow for the World Cup qualifier against Sweden.

Modest McGinlay says Andy Goram's job is safe but, joking apart, he is hoping he's done enough at the business end to warrant a place in Brown's elite. If not, he'll stay focused on keeping Wanderers on the Premiership trail.

"Craig's always said he picks people in form," he explained, matter-of-factly. "If it happens, it happens. The priority as far as I am concerned is here with Bolton.

"As for my performance in goal, I think my kicking needs a wee but of work!"

A cheeky grin is never far away when McGinlay's around. In fact it's smiles all the way for Wanderers, who survived the trauma of being down to 10-men and without Branagan, keeping their nerve, discipline and organisation, to record their 10th win in 15 Division One games. The three points that enhanced their position at the top of the table came at a price with skipper Gudni Bergsson injured, and a booking for Alan Thompson meaning that he must join Branagan in a three-match suspension.

But the circumstances made it an extra special result for Colin Todd.

The Burnden boss, delighted with his team's display of character, echoed McGinlay's party-pooper theme when he admitted: "I take a lot of satisfaction from the result because the opposition made it very hard for us and things went against us.

"I'm afraid a lot of teams coming here are showing us so much respect that they are changing their formations. Reading came looking for a 0-0 or a 1-0, hoping to hit us on the break.

"That's a compliment but it means it's going to be harder for us and, like last night, we are going to have to be patient."

With Todd forced to give young Scott Taylor his first start in place of Nathan Blake, who pulled out with an ankle injury after the morning training session and Gudni Bergsson limping out with a groin injury after 18 minutes, Wanderers took time to get into their stride. When they did, Thompson and Scott Sellars looked a cut above the rest in midfield.

Yet with better finishing Reading's raiders could have had them on the rack in the first half. Lambert missed two good chances and the luckless Lee Nogan missed one and had another brilliantly palmed away by Branagan.

The Royals appear destined to be haunted by the Wanderers keeper after his match-turning penalty save from Stuart Lovell in the 1995 Play-off Final. And once again Wanderers can thank the wannabe Irish international. Within eight minutes of his spectacular stop, they were in front, Michael Johansen jinking past the unfortunate Paul Bodin to whip in a cross Keith McPherson could only clear as far as Sellars, whose shot deflected in off Barry Hunter. Nogan squandered another opportunity just before half-time, complaining bitterly that he'd been tripped by Chris Fairclough but Lambert finally got his reward for persistence when he headed the equaliser from close range seven minutes into the second half, Andy Bernal embarrassing the Bolton defenders by getting the telling header to Bodin's free-kick.

Enter Gerry Taggart, man mountain at the heart of the Bolton back four but quickly climbing high in the "assist" league.

From first step to last, the Burnden crowd sensed a purpose and a determination about the way the Ulsterman surged forward on his 40-yard run but the momentum was lost when Thompson miskicked. Only for a moment, though. As Bodin tried to steer the ball back to Tommy Wright, McGinlay was in like a shot, scoring in a flash to edge ahead of Blake with his 10th goal in nine games. Euphoria quickly turned to trepidation, though, when Branagan was red-carded for taking the ball and Nogan in a desperate challenge outside his penalty area.

Wanderers accepted referee Bill Burns' decision without complaint, Todd acknowledging that the Scarborough official got it right while the keeper himslf admitted: "I've no arguments. He was through and if he's round me he's going to score. It was pure instinct - there's no way I'm going to let him score. It's what I'm trained to do.

"Funnily enough after the incident it raised the atmosphere and the adrenalin. The night had been a bit dead up to that point."

Todd saluted McGinlay's performance, first light-heartedly suggesting he now has four goalkeepers on his books, then applauding him for his once again delivering his stock-in-trade.

"That was a typical striker's goal," the manager said in admiration. "Like Rush, he's always alert and bright. John's playing tremendously well at the moment. He looks sharp and he deserves the goals he's getting."

But the unselfish Scot wasn't hogging all the glory and was quick to pay tribute to the men who helped him achieve the goalkeeper's most treasured trophy - the clean sheet!

"They were fantastic in front of me," McGinlay said gratefully. "When I went in goal I told them to deal with everything that came along and if it had to be knocked into Row Z then do it!

"We rode our luck a wee bit but I thought we deserved the three points."

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