THEY may have played second fiddle to the goalkeeper on Saturday – but Gary Megson thinks his rapidly-improving back four deserves some credit after their second successive clean sheet.

The Wanderers chief was happy to pay tribute to Jussi Jaaskelainen for what he described as some “world class goalkeeping” at the KC Stadium but said the Finn’s performance somewhat overshadowed what had been a pleasing defensive performance overall.

“You’d have never thought of making Jussi man of the match after 80 minutes,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, what he did in that 10-minute spell was truly excellent and won us the game, but there were some very good performances out there.”

Megson has kept faith with the same back five for the last six games and has been rewarded, with his side conceding an average of just one goal per game in a run which has helped Wanderers climb into mid-table There have been a few hiccups along the way – most notably the error which led to Marouane Fellaini’s late winner for Everton just under a fortnight ago.

But the Whites boss has been happy with the reaction to that mistake and hailed his two centre-halves’ performances at Hull.

“Gary and Andy were terrific, they had a lot to contend with,” Megson said. “Defensively, it was a very good effort.

“In the Everton game we made a mistake. We’ve worked on that and we realise we need the players who can head the ball best in the right areas of the pitch.

“Gary, in that instance, went walkabout but has very quickly picked up on what he had done wrong. His performances are getting better and better alongside Andy’s.”

Megson did not exclude Jaaskelainen from the praise. Jussi’s reaction on the pitch as he was making those saves was typical of him,” he said.

“Sometimes people lose concentration if people are patting them on the back for a save they have made rather than get on with what they should be doing. It’s a measure of the quality of the bloke.

“After the game he realised he had played his part, but also that there were some really good performances from the other players.”