I WAS delighted for Owen Coyle when he celebrated his first win at the Rebok on Saturday — and happier still for Johan Elmander.

I’m sure Johan will have been chuffed to bits to get his goal and to hear the fans singing his name again and I can say with some confidence that we are going to start seeing the best of him over the next few months.

He’s a good, honest pro and with the manager having been a striker himslef, he will understand the problems he’s had trying to live up to his record price tag.

We all know Johan has struggled to deliver his best for the team but never once has he made excuses or slagged anybody off in the papers. He’s never hidden away and he’s never really let his head go down, he just rolls his sleeves up and does his best to sort out his problems himself.

He took his goal superbly well on Saturday and he deserved it for having shown the right attitude throughout a difficult time. I’m sure we’ll see a better Johan Elmander from now on.

Coyley will be pleased to get that first win under his belt and to have seen his team do such a professional job of it and earned us a good home draw in the next round — regardless of whether it’s Spurs or Leeds who end up at the Reebok..

He took the opportunity to have a good look at a couople of the fringe players, as he said he would. Everyone starts with a clean slate when a new manager comes in and that’s obviously the case here, judging by the squads he has selected in his first three games.

Tonight’s a big game, of course, being a local derby and pitting Coyley against his former club.

But I don’t think that will make any difference to him, personally.

He’ll approach it in exactly the same way he would approach any other game and show Burnley the same respect he would show Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United.

I expect the Burnley fans are going to have a go at him for leaving but they should really be thanking him for what he did for them in the time he was there.

This is one of those occasions when the Bolton fans can make a big difference. There’s going to be a big derby atmosphere, but let’s not get too carried away.

It’s a six-pointer and a chance to get a run going that will take us up the table and clear of danger — but nothing will be decided tonight.

I just hope the lads put a good shift in and get those three points.

I found out why Sir Alex Ferguson gets a cob on over time-keeping when I was with the youth team at the weekend.

They went to Blackburn, who are top of the table, and were winning 1-0 until the 94th minute when Rovers equalised.

The kids had done well to bounce back after their Youth Cup defeat by Fulham and should have won the game.

I just don’t know where the ref got those extra four minutes from.