SOME managers might consider a historic, record-breaking 5-0 away win would be all the motivating their teams would need as they prepared for their next game.

But not Sam Allardyce.

Forty-eight hours after stunning the Premiership with that triumph at Leicester, the manager had his sports psychologists working on the players, making sure there were only positive thoughts in their minds, determined to keep them tuned in for the Middlesbrough game.

The result ... another morale-boosting victory and a league table that makes you feel like pinching yourself.

"It was just part of the ongoing process," Big Sam explained. "The psychologists are in with us every day anyway, seven days a week.

"The job on Monday was to just make sure there were no negatives creeping in."

The Wanderers' hierarchy had been disappointed with the lack of credit the team had received for the quality of the Filbert Street performance, the feeling being that the pundits and the national media considered it a Leicester flop rather than a Bolton triumph. So the statistics from the match analysis dominated the afternoon's post match evaluation.

"We knew we'd played well and our stats proved it," the manager said defiantly. "We had about 20 or 22 shots on goal so we used that to our advantage."

Generous

Boro boss Steve McClaren wasn't particularly generous in his comments on Wanderers' performance on Tuesday night although, being a new manager just two games into the job, he understandably preferred to talk up his own beleaguered players.

But he did offer a grudging acknowledgement of their effectiveness when he remarked: "The pleasing thing was the way we moved the ball, retained possession and tried to seek openings. But with Bolton having 11 men behind the ball, it was a hard job to breach their defence, especially in the second half."

That's the sort of comment we may grow accustomed to hearing from opposition managers this season as Wanderers go for points rather than plaudits. Allardyce made that objective clear with his references to "dogs of war".

But there was nothing dogged about the performance at Leicester and there were occasions on Tuesday night when their passing and interplay was of a standard considerably higher than we have come to expect.

Not that they were satisfied themselves - at least not with offensive side of their game. "We didn't play that well but we defended so well as a team," was Per Frandsen's assessment. "That was the key. Maybe we defended a bit more than we should have done because we didn't create much but we have shown it is difficult to play against us."