Owen Coyle thanks the man upstairs

Posted Monday, November 07, 2011 by The Sun

Owen Coyle thanks the man upstairs
HEAVEN SENT ... Coyle hails saintly striker Eagles

OWEN COYLE thanked the man upstairs for three vital Bolton points yesterday.

Wanderers' beaming boss said: "When I went to mass last night, the local priest was brilliant and announced 'Let's pray for the Wanderers.' So I knew He was onside as well!"

In truth, the win owed more to a wretched Stoke show and clangers by keeper Asmir Begovic.

In ending a run of seven straight home league defeats, the Trotters also gained sweet revenge for the 5-0 hammering they suffered at Stoke's hands in April's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Coyle added: "There is no getting away from how crucial this win was.

"You have to accept that when you have made a slow start, as we have, every game gets bigger.

"This only moves us up one place but it catapults us up there with seven or eight teams and keeps us on an upward spiral."

Bolton's form nosedived after their semi disaster and they had lost 13 of 16 league games prior to yesterday's triumph.

Coyle, though, did not believe that was significant, insisting: "Our focus here was to address what had been happening in the Premier League, not what went before.

"We had the players in training for an extra day last week. The intensity was there and, regardless of how the result went, I wanted to make sure we had the sort of performance I like."

Bolton claimed an early lead after Begovic was deemed to have handled a second-minute Glenn Whelan backpass. Begovic then allowed Ivan Klasnic to take a quick free-kick and Kevin Davies struck.

Chris Eagles and Klasnic both then went on to score two apiece.

Stoke had been in Europa League action at Maccabi Tel Aviv only on Thursday but boss Tony Pulis had no excuses.

He declared: "Bolton were better than us all over the pitch.

"Take nothing away from Bolton. We had our day at Wembley and they have had their day here.

"Playing Monday, Thursday and Sunday is always going to be a tough call when you are travelling those distances but there are no excuses whatever."