Northern lights . . ! Bolton Wanderers 3, Oldham 1

Those lucky enough to be at Burnden at the same time saw Wanderers put Oldham in the shade with a performance that illustrated precisely why the Lancashire rivals are poles apart in the First Division.

In just a fraction over half an hour the title favourites were back on top of the table, having been briefly deposed overnight by Norwich's East Anglian derby victory over Ipswich.

And poor Oldham, having been encouraged by their first win of the season seven days earlier, found themselves even more firmly rooted to the bottom.

It was the most awesome and contemptuous dismissal of a team that has had the Indian sign on Wanderers in recent Burnden visits. Not even a comparatively lacklustre second half could diminish the satisfaction of a team that is showing increasingly that it has no equal in the Nationwide League.

Poor Oldham just can't find a way to overcome their early season trauma. Missing key players and bereft of confidence, they were overwhelmed and dispatched in the most convincing fashion.

The gulf in quality was evident even before the seventh minute, when Michael Johansen speared a powerful 20-yard right footer beyond Gary Kelly's reach, and was highlighted further as John McGinlay helped himself to his sixth and seventh goals of the season - no doubt giving watching Scotland boss Craig Brown considerable food for thought as he ponders his next World Cup move.

By half time Wanderers had registered eight on-target goal attempts to Oldham's nil and, although Graeme Sharpe drew a modicum of consolation from seeing Mark Allott crown his debut with a goal six minutes from time, the Latics boss had to concede: "We were never at the races.

"It was over with in the first half hour. We got back in it slightly at 3-1 but the game was already dead. Bolton deserve to be up there. They and Palace are the best sides we've played."

Colin Todd didn't waste time analysing the second half fade-out. His players had done enough in 31 minutes, during which time Alan Thompson reigned supreme in midfield, to record their eighth win of the season with a standard of football that would have blitzed any team in the division.

The Burnden boss expressed his delight with "the entire 90 minutes", adding: "I thought we still controlled it and never looked like conceding until they got that late goal.

"Let's not let anything detract from the overall performance, It was excellent. The standards we set are excellent and the ability in the side is awesome. We continued where we left off at Wolves and that was just what I'd asked for."

The afternoon was a personal triumph for international hopefuls McGinlay and Gerry Taggart - both believing they are doing enough to warrant World Cup calls.

For his part, McGinlay knows he can't have done more to convince Scotland boss Brown that, at 32, he shouldn't be consigned to the ranks of the "has beens". Four goals in his last two games has proved beyond doubt that reports of his so-called "drought" were wildly exaggerated.

His link with Nathan Blake and Scott Sellars for his first of the afternoon bamboozled the Oldham defence while the ease with which he beat his former Bury teammate Kelly for his second proved he's lost none of his characteristic confidence.

If Brown sticks to his policy of picking the players in form and pays any heed to Todd, McGinlay will at least be in the squad for the November 10 qualifier against Sweden at Ibrox. "John's playing as well as ever!" the Burnden boss said. "He took his goals like a true goalscorer should. People were saying he wasn't scoring and had lost his form but that was nonsense. I knew it and John knew it."

Taggart is starting to wonder what he's got to do to convince Bryan Hamilton that he has an international future beyond the 35 caps he already proudly holds.

Back from a frustrating time in Belfast, where he watched from the subs bench as his national side was held by Armenia, the big centre-back played like a man inspired, comfortably cancelling out the threat of Latics' beanpole striker Ian Ormondroyd and playing a hugely significant role in two of the three goals.

Totally transformed after his stop-start problems of last season, Taggart's defensive form has been a revelation but he added gloss to the undercoat when he slid in to dispossess Andy Hughes on the halfway line and immediately set off on a surging run down the left. By his own admission, the cross wasn't perfect but Blake made it decisive when he stepped over the ball to give Johansen the space and the angle to fire his fourth of the season.

Any "playmaker" would have been proud of the inch-perfect 40-yard pass that found McGinlay in space for the goal that put the game beyond doubt and, in all honesty, shouldn't have been the last.

Taggart admitted later: "It's difficult to sustain it. We'd played so well in the first half but we were a bit lax at the back after the break. They'd had a rollicking at half time and they made it a bit more difficult for us but we'd done enough.

"We are playing ever so well now. We're getting a bit of luck here and there but it's only what we deserve. If we keep playing well we're good enough to beat anyone.

"Had you said at the start that we'd win the game 3-1 you'd have been happy just as you'd have been happy at the start of the season if you could have said we'd be in this position now.

"I don't think anybody would have thought we'd have been top. Being top has surprised a few people - even ourselves."

Wanderers are growing increasingly proud of their status as table-toppers and McGinlay revealed that seeing the morning league table had given them added incentive to end their Oldham bogey.

He explained: "Norwich went top of the league on Friday night and that made us even more determined to get the three points to regain our place.

"We enjoy being on top and we want to stay there throughout the season."

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