DAVID Wheater says he and his team-mates are fighting tooth and nail for their manager Phil Parkinson, and he insists they will turn the tide soon.

Wanderers have floundered on the pitch with no goals and no points in eight games, but while Wheater says they have performed better than those statistics suggest, it is points that are all-important and he only wishes there could be a trade-off.

“The performances have been a lot better and we’ve deserved some reward in some of them,” he told The Bolton News. “But we’d all take putting in the worst games of our careers and somehow getting a 1-0 win.

“If [Aston Villa manager] Steve Bruce hadn’t brought on Christopher Samba in the last game we’d have had a goal and brought back a point – or even if he’d brought on somebody smaller who wouldn’t have got in the way of Gaz’s [Madine] shot.

“We won’t stop working though, we’re fighting and giving our all for the manager. We’re not a team for sulking, nor is he, and we’re confident in him. He’s really worked wonders, especially for someone who’s not had a penny to spend.

“We will get the points ticking over again soon, we know we can and just hope it’s sooner rather than later.

“There is still so much time left in the season and lots of points to play for.”

Having Sammy Ameobi back in action is an obvious plus for the Whites and, while the former Newcastle man has not yet hit the heights of his spell at the Macron last season, Wheater believes once his fitness gets back up to speed, his quality will show through and the points tally will begin to creak into life once again.

And Wanderers fans could also see the return of Josh Vela in the near future, something Wheater says would be a massive boost for everyone.

“Josh should be featuring again soon,” he added. “He’s back training and obviously we’ve missed him and his work-rate.

“He’s a big plus going forward and can drop back, get on the ball and dictate play, he’s a big player for us, as is Sammy. When they’re fit and firing they will a massive difference.”

Wheater and Vela have extra incentive for their next outing, against Sheffield Wednesday a week today, having been guests of honour at the 13th birthday party of Declan McKernan-Neale.

The Wanderers-mad youngster was surprised to see the two Bolton stars, accompanied by club legend and community ambassador Tony Kelly turn up at his door.

Declan, who suffers with diaplegic cerebal palsy and has limited vision in his right eye, had to undergo major surgery at 15 months old to combat the effects of hydrocephalus – known more commonly as water on the brain.

He has been through more trials in his short life than many will experience in their lifetimes. But the smile on show when he answered the door to the three Wanderers favourites is something that will inspire Wheater in the testing months ahead.

"Obviously things are not going that well for us at the moment but Declan is a real inspiration," he said. "It's nice for us to be able to make a kid like that smile so much, he was brilliant.

"He was a very chatty lad, a really lovely young guy who has a lovely family around him.

"He's been through a hell of a lot, it doesn’t bear thinking about how tough it must have been for him and his family and to see him now, he hasn’t let it get him down at all – he's not had a nice time of it but he keeps smiling and it's great to see and it's definitely inspiring."