MAYBE it’s the time of year — the Great Escape always gets an airing.

And it may be a tad premature to be singing it in December, but it summed up the release felt by all around the Reebok as Wanderers climbed out of the bottom three with a well-deserved win.

Second-half goals from Chung-Yong Lee, Ivan Klasnic and Gary Cahill made sure the Hammers went home from Lancashire with nothing for the seventh successive occasion — and on the evidence of this showing, it is likely to be a hard old season.

Wanderers had to dig deep after Alessandro Diamante levelled the scores, prompting West Ham’s only period in the ascendancy.

But with Zat Knight rock solid at the back and Chung-Yong Lee a constant menace on the wings, they made a mockery of this week’s crisis talk to claim a vital result.

Nerves were on show from the start, and just 30 seconds in, the Reebok took a collective deep breath when Kevin Davies’s shot deflected off Danny Gabbidon and landed just the wrong side of the post.

The Wanderers skipper was rather wasteful early on — squandering a great position after a mistake by James Tomkins, and perhaps his frustrations showed when, after clattering into Hammers keeper Rob Green an eternity after he had collected the ball, he was handed his seventh yellow card of the season by ref Andre Marriner.

At least the incident sparked a bit of passion into proceedings, and with challenges flying in from all angles, it was developing into just the sort of game Megson would have wanted.

The Whites continued to create opportunities, as Cahill’s header from Paul Robinson’s excellent cross skimmed just over the bar and Fabrice Muamba had an all-too-rare shot on goal blocked brilliantly by Scott Parker.

In between, referee Marriner ruled out what looked like a decent penalty shout against Julien Faubert, who was scampering back to block Chung-Yong’s foray into enemy territory.

The South Korea international was looking just as dangerous as he did in the first half against Manchester City on Saturday, and looked more so when switched to the left and pitted up against Faubert.

And it was his run that created the half’s standout chance, as a clever step-over from Davies just outside the box fell perfectly to Matt Taylor, who hurried his shot and sliced over the bar.

Wanderers had gone against type and played the classier football, and while some of their more laboured build-up actually riled up their own fans, they had looked in complete control.

Set pieces continued to cause problems after the break, and after Tamir Cohen had seen his goalbound shot blocked by Herita Ilunga, Zat Knight headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner.

The former Aston Villa man had made a solid return to the side at the weekend, and was again taking the eye in the centre of defence.

A brilliant tackle on Franco inside the penalty box stopped the Mexico international in his tracks, while at the other end, Knight’s defensive partner Cahill was showing his skills, dancing inside the box to bring a great low save out of Green.

Within an instant, West Ham sprung into life, surging up the field through Parker, who brought an even more impressive stop out of Jaaskelainen.

It was a warning shot of what might happen if the Whites didn’t take advantage of at least one of their opportunities.

And within a couple of minutes, they had done just that.

Again it was Chung-Yong who provided the attacking impetus, driving at Faubert from the left wing and playing a square ball across the penalty box. Cohen cleverly dummied, and Klasnic picked out the Korean’s run with a great pass.

There was a suspicion as to whether Chung-Yong was offside but there was no doubting his finish, which was a neat chip over the sprawling Green.

Pressure lifted, you could only fancy the Whites to help themselves to more.

But just four minutes later, the mood around the Reebok had turned.

West Ham finally linked some passes together down the left through Franco and Ilunga, and a smart touch from Jack Collinson inside the box left Diamante acres of space to slam the ball unmarked past Jaaskelainen.

It was a bolt from the blue, but when Parker shaved the crossbar with the Hammers’ next attack, Wanderers were rocking on their heels.

Luckily, the expected bombardment never materialised. And 13 minutes before the end, Chung-Yong’s cross was volleyed towards goal by Cahill, getting just enough of a touch off Cohen to distract Green, and the razor sharp Klasnic was there to poke the ball home before the England keeper had time to look where it had gone.

There’s something about Bolton that clearly unnerves Green, who tends to reserve his highest-profile mistakes for his meetings with Gary Megson’s side.

Even though Gretar Steinsson caused some nervy moments with a poor back pass late on, West Ham were effectively a spent force from there on in.

And a minute before full-time, substitute Ricardo Gardner swung a corner to the far post and Cahill was there to head home his fifth goal of the season.