SIMON Charlton reckons the latest recruits to the Reebok foreign legion will not take long to learn the facts of Premiership life.

"They only have to look at the table," said the best of Wanderers' British bulldog breed.

"The ones who have been here for a while understand what we are all about and I suppose it's difficult for the new lads who have come in.

"But I don't see why they shouldn't be up for it themselves when they get the chance."

New strikers Salva Ballesta and Pierre-Yves Andre were given brief runouts as substitutes in the 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns while defender Florent Robert watched the full-blooded encounter from the stands.

It was an eye-opener for all three - a tense "six-pointer" against uncompromising opponents who fought to the bitter end to rescue a vital safety point.

"Maybe it was what they needed to find out what the Premiership's about," said Charlton - the only Englishman in the starting line-up for the second successive game.

"They were a very physical team; elbows were flying and feet were flying."

The talk in the Reebok dressing room these days has a strong foreign flavour with an influx of Scandinavians, French, Caribbean, Spanish and African players in recent years.

But Charlton says the league of nations are united in a common goal.

"It's just the passion for the game and wanting to be successful," he explains. "That goes throughout football. Every player who comes in wants to win games.

"I don't know whether the new lads have experienced anything like this in France or Spain but they'll quickly find out that Bolton Wanderers are a hard-working team.

"We rely on the Jay-Jay Okochas to produce a bit of magic but even he works surprisingly hard.

"And we know we've got to continue working hard. We've got that little bit of a gap but that means nothing when one loss can put you right back in there again.

"It really does mean we have to keep going together - to run ourselves into exhaustion. If we still lose after doing that then we have to hold our hands up and say we weren't good enough. If all 11 players run themselves into the ground we'll probably come away with the points.

"We had words in the dressing room about that on Saturday. In the last five minutes you bring your reserves of physical strength and mental strength into play. It doesn't matter if you go into the dressing room at the end and collapse with exhaustion. Three points is always worth the effort.

"At West Brom it came down to a game of two halves and we just weren't good enough in the second."