10:25am Monday 5th May 2008
By Gordon Sharrock
A CAUTIOUS Gary Megson has put the celebrations on hold, but there is no doubt among the players and fans that the Whites are staying up.
Saturday's victory over Sunderland, combined with defeats for close rivals Birmingham and Reading means that only a miracle can send Wanderers down now.
Jubilant Bolton supporters chanted "We are staying up!" as a statement of fact rather than an expression of hope while the smiles on the faces of the players as they left the field and emerged from the dressing room was a clear sign that they knew they would not be caught.
They go to Chelsea on Sunday, knowing nothing short of a mathematical catastrophe can deny them an eighth successive season of top flight football - a remarkable achievement considering they looked down and out after losing 4-0 at Aston Villa a month ago.
Since that morale-shattering defeat, they have taken 10 points from a possible 12 and left Fulham, Birmingham and Reading facing a nerve-wracking final day.
"Three or four weeks ago, we were written off - we hadn't won in eight games," said Kevin Davies, who returned from a two-match ban to give a typically brave performance with a light splint on his broken hand.
"To turn it round is unbelievable.
"Only goal difference can change things now, so we'll go down to Chelsea and put 10 men behind the ball and, hopefully that will be OK."
Gary Cahill, who joined Wanderers in a £5million transfer from Aston Villa in January, spurning an offer from Birmingham, played a major role in a defence that conceded just one goal in the last four games, when all seemed lost.
"Even when things were going badly, I was enjoying my time here," said the 22-year-old centre-back.
"But, obviously this is the league I wanted to be in. This is why I came to Bolton.
"This has made my decision even better, so I'm very, very happy."
Skipper Kevin Nolan praised the fans for getting behind the team when they were needed and urged them to take advantage of the club's free coach travel offer and fill the visitors' section at Stamford Bridge.
"I would like to thank all our supporters who have been great all season," he said.
"In recent weeks when we've really needed to get the results, they have responded to our calls.
"All the lads are grateful. We'd like to take the full 3,000 down to Chelsea and for as many fans to take advantage of our free coach offer as possible. We want them there so that we can finish off the job and hopefully get a result against Chelsea on their own patch.
"This was a massive result. We've got to where we wanted to be. It's been absolutely fantastic what we've achieved, especially over the last four games.
"We were written off, and rightly so, after we were hammered by Aston Villa but we had a chat and asked ourselves Do we want to be known as the team that took Bolton Wanderers down after all the success we've had over the last four or five years?' "We know we are not mathematically safe but we are a long way down that road to being safe.
"Thank God all of the hard work behind the scenes has got us into this position. The pressure was on us to produce and we did.
"It would have been a disaster if we had gone down."
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