AFTER a nerve-jangling win to send Sunderland to the bottom of the table, it’s a buoyant Wanderers squad boarding the coach bound for Norwich today.

It would have been hugely contrasting, had they not bounced back from two straight away defeats.

But, going to a Norwich team that drew 2-2 at runaway leaders Wolves on Wednesday, they are not necessarily tipped to improve their road form.

And that pressure-releasing victory, coupled with less-than great external expectations, could work in the Whites’ favour as they bid to build on the four-point gap they have established to the relegation zone.

“The expectations on us are quite low,” admitted boss Phil Parkinson. “I’m not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing, but the most important thing is the points tally and where we are at the moment is looking better.

“Our away form has to improve, we know we’ve got to look to pick up points and not just rely on our home form.

“The win on Tuesday was huge for us to go down to Norwich in good spirits, that was important after we lost to Cardiff and QPR.

“There was a bit of tension in the air on Tuesday, you could feel that, but we got the job done by hook or by crook, we got a big three points.

“If we hadn’t got that result then all of a sudden the pressure builds up but we have to capitalise on the gap we’ve now got.”

That breathing space could, and should, see Wanderers’ flair players play with a freedom to express themselves as they try to open the battle at the bottom further and drag yet more teams into the fight for survival.

Zach Clough nabbed his first goal since returning on loan from Nottingham Forest and the manager feels there are players such as Clough, and two men who also had starring roles on Tuesday, Jem Karacan and Filipe Morais, who could yet come into their own.

“We’ve got some talented players, the likes of Cloughy, Sammy [Ameobi] and Alfie [Adam Le Fondre], and Will Buckley who’s now back in training,” he told The Bolton News.

“Fil was excellent on Tuesday. He’s a player who missed all of pre-season and he’s playing at a level he’s not been at before.

“I feel with Fil it’s only now we’re starting to see the performances he’s really capable of.

“I really thought he led the charge up that right-hand side so we have players who are confident in their own ability and we’ve got to express that.

“I was pleased for Cloughy, he’s had a couple of decent chances since he came back but he has looked really bright and on Tuesday he got the ball in the back of the net, with whatever part of his body hit it – I’m not bothered – but that will do him the power of good.

“Jem put in a fantastic performance too on what was always going to be a testing night for us. We were probably expected to win and that brings a different type of pressure.

“Aaron Wilbraham hadn’t played much football and he trained on Sunday, that’s all he’s done in the last two or three weeks but he put himself up to play.

“That’s the type of player we have, they roll their sleeves up and give us everything.

“We’ve got a four-point gap now and we’ve got to look to extend it. Our aim has always been to target the teams above us and there are teams we believe we can catch and we’ll look to do that.

“We have to aim high.”