KEVIN Davies remained defiant that Wanderers would not slip into reverse after Saturday’s defeat against Chelsea.

Gary Megson’s men remain in the Premier League’s top 10 despite the 2-0 reverse at the Reebok Stadium.

The Whites have lost on each occasion they have come up against one of the so-called Big Four this season – but Davies has taken heart from each one of the performances.

“We’ve given the top four a game and we’ve not been thumped,” he said.

“Recently, we’ve lost to Chelsea and Liverpool but won four difficult games. The lads are still positive. These are always bonus games for us.

“Chelsea have spent millions and millions of pounds so it’s going to be difficult to compete. We’ve just got to forget about this one, even though we can hold our heads high.

“It looks like it’s going to be a tough year. It’s so close between top and 10th.

“The confidence is still high and we think we can go on and climb up the table.”

Davies accepted he should have opened the scoring in the seventh minute – just moments before former Wanderers favourite Nicolas Anelka headed home at the other end for the Blues.

“I should have scored because it was a good chance, or at least hit the target,” he admitted. “They then went down the other end and punished us. Chelsea will do that – we gifted them two easy goals.

“At 2-0 we could easily have gone under but we showed some character to get back in the game.”

Anelka took his tally to 15 for the season with a deft header for Chelsea’s opener, later supplemented by a divine volley from Portugal international Deco.

And Davies claims there are few in the Wanderers camp, who are surprised that their former team-mate leads the Premier League scoring charts.

“Nicolas Anelka is one of the best,” he said. “We knew what his qualities were."