EXPERIENCE tells me that Gary Megson will be working his players harder than ever this week in an attempt to get the bitter disappointment of Sunday’s derby defeat out of their systems.

Nobody enjoys losing and it’s even worse when defeat comes at home to your local rivals. Such a defeat causes a lot of soul-searching and, in some cases, finger-pointing and I’ve read and heard with interest some of the things Gary has said since the Blackburn game.

I know he has been critical of the players and I don’t blame him, because that was the first time since I’ve been back at the club that not a single Bolton player emerged with any credit.

I even heard on the telly how Robbie Savage had go at Jussi Jaaskelainen. But he’s obviously not seen enough of Jussi to know he’s been absolutely outstanding for the team and he certainly doesn’t deserve to have any fingers pointed at him.

Actually it’s the team as a whole that carries the can and it’s the team as a whole that, in situations like this, needs to band together.

Unity is the key. I know that only too well from my time as a player at Bolton when the manager, Phil Neal, was having a bad time. On that occasion we linked arms, worked hard together and played through it.

I don’t have any particular insight into the way Gary deals with his players but I have had the privilege of seeing them train and I know he works them really hard, so I would expect him to be working them hard to get things right. It’s up to them to roll their sleeves up.

And I think they can put it right. The talent is there, I have no doubt about that and, football being the game that it is, I can see them winning the next two games — even though they are both away from home.

I just hope they get a bit more luck than they did on Sunday because it was a real sickener when we hit the bar and they went down the other end and scored. Instead of leading 1-0, we were 1-0 down and chasing the game.

Above all, though, I felt for the supporters. It was a bitter blow for them, losing a derby game and it takes a lot of getting over.

On a brighter note, I saw the youth team show a lot of character to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Manchester City.

Their second half performance was quite outstanding, but they needed reminding that they can’t just go out and start a game when they feel like it.

They have to be switched on right from the first minute, win their battles and play the game from there.

Back to Sunday and it was good to meet Amir Khan again and his legendary trainer Freddie Roach. He’s currently preparing Amir for his next big fight and I wish them both well.

It was also great to share a laugh and a joke with my old team-mate David Reeves. I’ve not seen Reevesy for a while and he looks to have put on quite a bit of weight, so I was able to get my own back for some of the digs he had at me when we were playing together.

One man who wasn’t there, of course, was Sam Allardyce, who stayed away on doctor’s orders as he awaits an operation. It was another reminder that there really is more to life than football and I’d like to join everyone in wishing him a speedy recovery.