MARK Beevers reckons Wanderers were two minutes away from completing a textbook away performance at Fulham.

Having defended manfully for 93 minutes, Phil Parkinson’s side dropped two painful points in stoppage time to ensure their wait for a win at Craven Cottage extended into a 26th year.

The Whites had just 23 per cent possession throughout the game but Beevers insists the defence was comfortable protecting the lead supplied by Sammy Ameobi in the first half.

“We made them look ordinary,” he told The Bolton News. “A lot of that is down to the team shape.

“We were really compact. They had a lot of the ball but we closed it down, put our bodies on the line and got our blocks in. We felt comfortable.

“Any team who comes here knows they are not going to have a lot of the ball. They have to set up in a way we did.

“You have to be compact and we have players who can hurt on the counter. I wouldn’t say we just camped on the edge of our own box.

“We had chances and, for me, I think we had more clear-cut chances. We don’t look like a team bottom of the league.

“The goal was just one of those things, second phase from a corner and he found a bit of space to put it in. It hurts but we’ve got five points from nine now, which I think is a decent return considering we hadn’t won a game in our first 12.”

Beevers’ form came under scrutiny in the first couple of months of the campaign but has improved dramatically since the international break. Both he and David Wheater have taken centre stage over the last couple of games - and the former Sheffield Wednesday man admits they are enjoying themselves again.

“We live for the battle,” he said. “Maybe three or four of the earlier games we’ve conceded goals or lost games that you are definitely not proud of but those type of things happen and you have to try and brush them under the carpet and move on.

“Maybe you look at the mistakes you made and try to rectify them but I always try and be better the next game.

“As a team we know we have had a bad start but we truly believe we can get ourselves out of the situation we’re in.

“It doesn’t change whatever league you are in, you have to be resilient. We have got players who’ll put in a shift.

“I think the return over the last few games has been decent. We’ve conceded three goals, which can be improved upon, but it’s a lot better than what we had done prior to that.”