Allardyce hails victorious Wanderers

Sam Allardyce hailed Bolton’s Carling Cup triumph over holders Liverpool as a “great day for the history of our club”.

And although Bolton marched into a quarter-final clash at home to Southampton, Allardyce was almost frightened to think that a place in Europe could be on the horizon.

Bolton have now gone six games undefeated and are well-placed in mid-table in the Premiership, and Allardyce said: “It was an enormous result for the club and for the history of this club.

“Liverpool are what they are as a club, massive, and they were also the holders.

“It is, for us, an unbelievable victory and we now march on, winning games on a consistent basis. That is five wins from six unbeaten games. It has taken us on to a different level.”

And he added: “The home draw now is excellent. We can look forward to a full house at the Reebok now.

“It will be a tough game, Southampton want to get to another final having reached the FA Cup final last season. But let’s hope it is our turn this time around.

“Europe? Don’t start that talk. I will just be happy to get through the next round and see what happens then.”

Youri Djorkaeff’s late penalty added to earlier strikes from Mario Jardel and Jay-Jay Okocha as Bolton always had Liverpool battling from behind.

Danny Murphy and Vladimir Smicer both scored goals to twice put Liverpool level, but they fell in the dying minutes to a penalty.

Allardyce said: “I do know we will have some tired legs on Saturday at Fulham, a game that is equally, if not more, important.

“But we do have some confident players now and it is looking very, very good for us.

“We made changes, but they did not have their strongest team either. I took a calculated risk, that Gerard Houllier’s team had to play three games in six days and the Carling Cup is not their priority.

“He was going to rest some players, as much as he wanted to retain the trophy.

“They made crucial changes with key players, that was the difference.”

A fuming Houllier did not spare his men after they had lost their hold on the trophy they won against Manchester United in Cardiff last season.

Houllier said: “I am very, very angry. And they will certainly know all about it when they report for training.”

Houllier refused to single out players in public, but pointedly said: “There were players who had come into the side who were fresh, but they did not take their opportunity and were below par.

“We just did not deserve to go through after a performance like that. I was extremely disappointed in my players, we do not have any excuses because we missed too many chances and made too many mistakes.

“Credit to them, they took their chances but we have to blame ourselves after that and make sure we redeem ourselves against Newcastle on Saturday.”