THERE will be no new faces in the Wanderers line-up at Portsmouth on Wednesday night after Sam Allardyce finally conceded defeat in his bid to bolster his beleaguered squad.

The Reebok boss was hoping to add at least one more quality performer to his ranks but, despite working throughout the day on a number of deals, the transfer deadline brought him nothing but frustration.

The only business he managed to conduct was to terminate the contract of Fabrice Fernandes, the French winger he signed on deadline day last August, and who managed just five senior appearances. He is now talking to two Israeli clubs, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Haifa.

Wanderers did manage to increase their squad numbers by one in the January transfer window, having earlier released the French defender, Martin Djetou, while bringing in Oman goalkeeper, Ali Al-Habsi, former Blackburn striker, Matt Jansen, and the Spanish midfielder, Oscar Perez, all on free transfers. But none of the three come into the category of the "impact" signing Allardyce was looking for to raise the bar in the second half of the season.