Wanderers, desperately seeking inspiration and encouragement from any quarter, scored a second diplomatic victory today when they were told Sasa Curcic had been left out of Yugoslavia's transatlantic marathon.

Officials in Belgrade have told the Serb midfielder he can stay in Bolton this week and continue his settling in period while his national teammates fly out to face Mexico and El Salvador.

Curcic is now free to train with his new Burnden teammates and focus, without interruption, on the November 18 home clash with fellow strugglers West Ham.

"They wanted me to go but they say that because I have only just come to Bolton, I can stay here, which is good," Curcic said after being told of his exclusion from the squad.

Colin Todd, who last week successfully appealed to the Icelandic FA to make Gudni Bergsson available for Wednesday's Coca-Cola Cup replay at Leicester, was equally pleased. The Burnden boss said: "The Yugoslavs understand that so soon after his transfer it's better for the player that he doesn't play in the internationals."

And Curcic has received a public assurance from Todd that he can expect a full 90 minutes of action in future games.

The Serb midfielder was substituted for the second game in a row on Saturday, nine minutes from the end of Wanderers 1-0 defeat at Manchester City - a move that sparked an angry attack on Roy McFarland (criticism shared by joint manager Todd) from the 2,000 travelling Bolton fans.

Todd explained that Curcic was still adjusting to the team's playing style but recognised his value when he declared: "He won't get subbed very often. He's a talented player but he's not trained as often as he would have liked recently - even before his transfer.

"We subbed him for a reason but it won't happen like that again."

Wanderers were disappointing in the Maine Road derby, suffering a half-time broadside from the management with accusations of lacking passion and desire.

"We came off a good result against Arsenal and were hoping to put a string of results together," Todd said."Unfortunately we weren't able to build on that."

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