IF there was one thing more inspiring than the outpouring of affection for Fabrice Muamba over the course of Saturday’s derby, it was the thought that the midfielder would be watching it from his hospital bed.

The club, the town and it seems most of the footballing world have gone through the full gamut of emotions since the 23-year-old midfielder collapsed on the field at Tottenham last weekend.

From the shock and despair felt as he battled for his life in the London Chest Hospital in those crucial first few days, to the relief of knowing his incredible recovery will enable him to be a father to three-year-old Joshua and marry his fiancee Shauna as planned next year.

Call it miraculous, call it what you will, but knowing he, like me, tuned into Match Of The Day made my weekend go a lot, lot better.

Saturday was some form of closure. A return to normality.

Football was back on the agenda.

The tributes massed outside the front doors of the Reebok Stadium tell you all you need to know about the way this human story has touched the country. Hundreds of shirts from clubs up and down the land are placed with messages of support, but the game itself was a chance for Bolton to show Muamba he was in their thoughts and prayers.

And what a touching display it was.

Set to the emotive strains of Labi Siffre’s (Something Inside) So Strong, a montage of clips was shown on the big screens detailing some of the astonishing displays of solidarity that have appeared around the globe. Lionel Messi, arguably the world’s best-ever footballer, wearing a T-shirt wishing Muamba a speedy recovery.

Surreal indeed.

Bursts of spontaneous applause had cropped up from the moment the players came out for their warm-up. The official two-minute stint was observed impeccably by both sets of fans and led into a mosaic tribute in the East Stand which spelled out “Muamba 6”.

The goosebumps hit me, and didn’t disappear until referee Andre Marriner had started the game.

Noise levels hardly dipped from that moment, as the Reebok’s biggest crowd of the season got into the swing of the derby.

Muamba’s name was chanted at various stages, most tellingly when Steven Nzonzi had pulled a goal back for Blackburn. This whole experience has been a uniting force for Wanderers — but the players also had to get the job done on the pitch.

And wouldn’t you know, it was close pal David Wheater whose goals sealed three priceless points to take the club out of the bottom three.

Perhaps more importantly, those goals would have brought a beaming smile out of a patient some 200 miles away in Bethnal Green.