By Mark Heys
January 20 2006

Sam Allardyce is playing the waiting game as he looks to bring in new faces to add to his squad which has been decimated by injury and the African Cup of Nations. The Bolton boss is looking for a player of the right quality to come in and do a job between now and the end of the season to help boost the club's chances of reaching Europe for the second consecutive season.

Ali Al-Habsi and Matt Jansen have already linked up with the club recently but the loss of four senior squad members to the African tournament has made this year particularly difficult for Allardyce.

"We are trying to get a player of the right quality to play now until the end of the season, If we can't get someone immediately then maybe it will happen later in the month." said the Bolton chief

"We might have to suffer with a small squad until then and hope the players see us through."

Allardyce has never been a fan of the transfer window since its introduction in the 2002-2003 season and he says that coupled with the amount of games played makes the job even harder.

"You've got the transfer window and all the games that go with it. You have to deal with it the best you can. This time around there is the African Nations Cup as well. It is a very poor month to focus on the right things, which is getting your team to play a game, week in, week out."