TIM Ream believes Wanderers players may think again before “crossing the line” with manager Neil Lennon after he made an example of Barry Bannan and Neil Danns this weekend.

The pair were suspended by the Whites boss for a breach of club discipline in the early hours of Wednesday morning and forced to stay at home as the team fought out a 2-2 draw at Brentford.

Ream revealed that the players had been informed that Bannan and Danns were suspended on Thursday at Euxton following a brief meeting with coaching staff.

And the American thinks the no-nonsense approach from the manager puts down a marker for the future.

“It keeps all the guys in focus,” he told The Bolton News. “It’s a tough situation which has been handled in the manager’s own way. It keeps guys focused for the remainder of the season.

“Obviously it is only two more games but it shows guys he is very serious about finishing the season strongly.”

“It doesn’t disrupt the team; it disrupts them more than anything. It was addressed very quickly by the staff and as team it was addressed.

“The staff sat us down for a couple of minutes and then we got on with it. We have to stay focused on our job on the pitch and have to stay focused off it. I think everyone got that message.”

Many suggest Bannan’s punishment could now affect his chances of returning to the club full-time after a successful loan spell from Crystal Palace.

The Scotland international had a chequered disciplinary history in his earlier years at Villa Park and during a loan spell at Blackpool but Ream stuck up for his team-mate, hoping the club would give him another chance.

“It is a fine line,” he said. “Barry hasn’t had – per se – any disciplinary issues here before that.

“You can say all you want, he’s had issues in the past or he’s not had issues in the past, but to put it in baseball terms, I do believe in a three-strike system. “Again that’s my view. What the manager does is down to him. What he says goes.

“We have to go by what he says. He is not going to lay down and let you do what you want. You have to be disciplined on and off the pitch.

“But we are not robots. He is not saying we can’t go out, he is not saying we can’t have a few drinks. He is not saying we have to stay in and be quiet little mice.

“There is a line you cannot cross and I don’t know what was said or what was done but with them being suspended I would imagine they have crossed the line the gaffer has put in the sand.”

The whole incident actually eclipsed a gutsy display from Wanderers, who survived a late onslaught to keep hold of a point with 10 men.