ANY Bolton fan who dared talk of Champions League qualification seven years ago, when Sam Allardyce was just four months into his Reebok reign, would have been carted off to the funny farm.

Yet here they are, fifth in the Premiership, breathing down Arsenal's neck and with a handsome four-point lead over a clutch of teams scrapping for a top-six finish.

If they don't book a return ticket to the UEFA Cup, they will be bitterly disappointed.

Nevertheless, the club whose meteoric rise from the obscurity of the lower reaches of the second tier to leading lights in the top flight of English football is not above criticism.

Whether it's their dealings in the transfer market, Allardyce's tactics or the form of individual players, Wanderers have never been short of critics, even among their own fans.

That's what comes of raising expectations. But it's not just the fans who have been disappointed to see opportunities wasted.

Big Sam and his players have set standards way beyond anything they could have envisaged when he took charge in October, 1999 - and they don't need outsiders to tell them when they fall below the required levels, as they did in January.

Five wins on the trot at the end of 2006 had even the sternest of cynics suggesting "Little Bolton" were serious contenders for a top-four finish, but two points from four games at the start of the new year had the Whites desperately looking for a safety net.

They found it at Watford on Saturday with a narrow but significant victory, putting Champions League talk back on the agenda. And, even if that might be regarded as an over-ambitious reaction, it has certainly done a power of good for confidence levels.

Nicky Hunt, who played a major part in helping Wanderers produce their 12th clean sheet of the season, summed up the relief after Nicolas Anelka stopped the rot with his second-half matchwinner.

"I wouldn't say it was getting to us, but the performances have not been to the standards that we set at the end of 2006 and over the Christmas period, when we put together so many wins," said the young full-back.

"Although we weren't playing that well, we had that dogged determination to pick up three points, week in and week out.

"We've not had that so far in 2007, but we went out and kept a clean sheet at Watford and, in that sense, everything went right for us.

"It was good to win away from home again. It was a poor game but the lads are still chuffed that we came away with three points."

The 23-year-old didn't need jibes from fans to tell him what he knew himself, that his own form was suffering. But now he is looking forward again with optimism.

"The form's coming back, slowly but surely," he said, offering an insight into his self-analysis. "I'm willing myself on in every game and, hopefully, it can keep going.

"I don't know why (it dipped). I just think it's to do with self-confidence and self-belief. But, when results haven't been going the way they should, the team takes the flak and individuals take the flak as well.

"But on Saturday things went well and we took the three points."

Allardyce's policy of focusing as much on his players' psychological welfare as on their physical well-being comes into its own in troubled times, and Hunt is not alone in feeling the benefit.

"The club's been a massive help," he said. "They get everyone in for you, psychologists, people who will listen. It's not that the players have necessarily been particularly low on confidence or anything like that. It's just that when you do have a slip up in form, it can get to you a bit and you just want to put it right as quickly as possible. Hopefully I've done that now."

Even when they were struggling for form in the league, Wanderers still managed an impressive FA Cup performance at Arsenal, securing a draw which went some way to getting them back on track in the Premiership. And with teams directly below them, such as Portsmouth, also going through bad patches they have still been able to open up a sizeable lead going into the final phase of the season.

"It's a big plus point for us with the gap being there," Hunt said. "But we have to maintain our form over as many games as possible between now and the end of the season and see how it goes from there.

"We started to come together as a team again at Arsenal. Not so much in the Charlton game, but at Watford the togetherness was back again and we were willing to die for each other.

"If we keep that up, we'll go a long way this season.

"The Arsenal game was a turning point. Going to the Emirates for the first time, where they haven't lost, and being in a position to come away with a 1-0, was a great performance.

"Conceding that goal at the end was a big downer, but we've had to bounce back and we feel we've done that now."