Wanderers savoured the sweetness of success and the bitterness of resentment as they settled in for a spell of life at the top.

The Burnden bonanza continued with successive home wins against Oldham and Tranmere impressively strengthening their position at the head of the First Division.

But the two top class performances, heralded by many, came under fire from certain quarters.

Perhaps it was only a mild criticism when it was suggested they had taken their foot off the pedal after going three up in half an hour against Oldham. Nevertheless, it was criticism and, although not the majority view by any means, it still served to irritate the Bolton players.

More amazing still were the bitter parting shots from Tranmere after they taken what can only be described as a 1-0 trouncing.

Apparently ignoring the impressive array of saves Danny Coyne made to rescue Rovers from a rout, player-boss John Aldridge argued that his side deserved a point, had Wanderers panicking and should have had a penalty - the occasion when Gerry Taggart was seen ticking him off for making a meal out of an inoccuous challenge.

When Aldridge suggested Wanderers weren't the best side they'd played and that, in his opionion, they were vulnerable "if you get at them", there was more than just a hint of sour grapes. As one senior member of the Wanderers squad pointed out: "there has been some bad blood between the teams in recent years." Coyne echoed his manager's criticism when he said: "I wouldn't say Bolton were the best team we've played. They are doing well at the moment because they are showing consistency and they are good going forward. I can see them being up there for most of the season but it's far too early to be talking about going straight back up.

"We had them panicked at the back, we should have had a draw and we could have beaten them!"

The remarks, on both counts, surprised the Burnden camp. But if anyone thinks they will have a damaging affect on morale, they haven't got a clue.

All that matters is that Wanderers know they outclassed Oldham and produced even better football to complete a comprehensive victory over the Prenton Park mob.

Okay, the players are a proud bunch and they won't take kindly to the suggestion, however unfair, that they didn't give value for money in the Oldham game.

Colin Todd viewed the match in its entirity when he described his team's performance as "awesome" and didn't feel he needed to justify having failed to capitalise on the matchwinning early lead.

Taggart summed up the feelings in the dressing room when he added: "If you'd have said 3-1 before the game started I think people would have been happy.

"We had no qualms about the scoreline. You can't sustain it for 90 minutes I don't think any team can keep up constant, constant pressure. There's going to be times when the other team won't just lie back and let you come at them. They're going to start trying to get in the game, biting at you and that's what they did in the second half.

"They got amongst us instead of just lying down and you've got to give some credit to them."

More significantly, the Rovers rantings will serve only to galvanise a team already noted for its upbeat mood.

After all, they haven't had their heads turned by the bouquets that have been handed out by just about every manager they've turned over, so they won't dream of being insulted by the brickbats. As Todd himself suggested: "We take everything in our stride but the one thing sure to motivate the players is people writing us off.

"We are where we are on merit. We know that but we're not talking about ourselves. We are very low key."

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