GARY Megson has called for the club to band together to make sure Wanderers haul themselves over the finishing line in the next couple of games.

The Wanderers boss does not want to be dragged down into the relegation zone, and admits that Premier League status is not yet secure.

His hopes of at least a point at Fratton Park were undermined by an uninspired performance, where only a man-of-the-match display by Jussi Jaaskelainen kept them in the game.

With five games remaining Megson has called for a big effort against Aston Villa at the Reebok on Saturday, followed by the local derby at Wigan, to make sure the final three games are not a repeat of last season.

It took a last-gasp revival to haul the Whites out of the danger zone and Megson does not want an action replay this time around.

“We are not in the bottom three at the moment and we have to make sure we don’t get into that position,” he said.

“We are not out of the woods yet but I think we will be all right if we play as we can do. We need the right response from everyone at the club.

“I was disappointed with the way we performed at Portsmouth. I don’t think too many players played like I expected them too.

“In the second half at Chelsea they played with enthusiasm, desire and a certain amount of anger because of the game’s situation, but we didn’t get anwywhere near that.

“We didn’t set out to be defensive, we set out to be solid and then push forward, but we didn’t have enough of the ball. Both sides were nervy and we didn’t see the quality you expect in the Premier League.”

The only goal of the game, claimed by Kanu in the 78th minute, when he bundled home Nadir Belhadj’s curling corner, was another defensive error, and the third from set-pieces in the last two games.

“It was pathetic defending. We have someone in there whose job it is to make sure that doesn’t happen. A cross from that angle should not end up in the back of the net,” he complained.

Megson also admitted that his strikers posed little threat to the Portsmouth backline and that switching Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander round at half-time had little effect.

He added: “We thought that that Davo might give Campbell and Distin more problems and that Elmander might be able to isolate Hreidarsson but it didn’t happen.”

Pompey boss Paul Hart agreed: “Bolton have a system they have had for quite a while and are very hard to play against. But give our players credit as our centre-halves and full-backs dominated their forward players who are extremely important to them.”