York 0 Wanderers 2

By GORDON SHARROCK PER Frandsen celebrated his Wanderers debut in sensational style with a taste of things to come.

The tall, blond Dane - the more experienced half of Colin Todd's summer package from Copenhagen - lashed in an unstoppable 25 yard shot to put the gloss on his long delayed but nonetheless impressive introduction.

It was worth waiting for. And the promise is of more net busters from the 26-year-old international, whose arrival in a £2.25 million joint transfer with teammate Michael Johansen has injected power and quality into a midfield department where the competition for places promises to be fierce.

Long-range shooting is one of the hallmarks of Frandsen's game and, after his explosive start, he was modest but menacing: "It was a good hit. I have a good right foot and I like to score goals. Everybody likes to score."

Three weeks of frustration was unleashed in the 42nd minute strike that inspired Wanderers to a win that offered more encouragement than any of the previous five pre-season performances. Their new Burnden bosses had delayed the Danes' debuts to allow two-match suspensions carried over from last season to be wiped out and Frandsen admitted: "This was our first match for some time and I was a little bit tired at the end. But it's good to be playing at last."

And, in an honest assessment of the performance, he added: "We started well, played poorly for a time and after the goals went in we were in control. But I think we should have scored more goals once we were in charge of the game." Sharpshooting apart, Frandsen lived up to his reputation as a powerful, talented midfield player who relishes the involvement of a central role both in possession and in the tackle. Johansen, at 23 the younger by three years, had a less spectacular but satisfyingly steady debut, starting on the left wing and showing his versatility with a second half switch to the right.

Likened to Gordon Strachan because of his red hair, Bolton fans of a previous generation might compare his running style to Gordon Taylor's. He certainly looks comfortable in the wide role, where he is sure to figure in Todd's 4-4-2 plans.

Wanderers had a testing first half with York danger man Gary Bull volleying against the crossbar and Gavin Ward forced to make a smart save from Adrian Randall after a mistake by Bryan Small.

But they were coasting after John McGinlay had continued his goal-a-game summer streak to punish Andy Sharples for failing to cut out a Sasa Curcic cross three minutes into the second half.

Still frustrating at times, Curcic showed enough spark to allay fears that his appetite and interest was on the wane. York were constantly under pressure from his weaving runs. As was evident in the Premiership, Wanderers have a potent talent in the Yugoslavian - if only it can be harnessed to the greater benefit of the team.

Todd was happier as he left Bootham Crescent than he had been coming away from Hull and Wrexham but he remains hard to please. "There's still a lot of work to do but we had a lot of people missing again because of injury," he explained.

"The two Danes did well and Sasa did a lot better but there were one or two things I was still not satisfied with. We played the game at the same tempo when we really should be looking to step it up with an injection of pace from time to time.

"York gave us one or two problems but we kept a clean sheet and you're always looking for that, even in pre-season."

Wanderers: Ward, McAnespie, Small, Fairclough, Taggart, Frandsen, Lee, Curcic, Green, McGinlay, Johansen. Subs: Strong for Taggart 57 mins, Thompson for Lee 57 mins.

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