WHEN Gary Cahill moved to Chelsea in January, we all wondered whether we’d struggle to fill his shoes.

Three months on, and I’m delighted to say that not only do Tim Ream and David Wheater seem to have done just that, but Wanderers actually look more balanced at the back than they ever did.

Of course, we’d love it if Cahill was still here and I’m sure every Bolton fan will be cheering him on at the European Championships this summer. He deserves it because he was a class act at the Reebok.

But if there were any doubts that we were getting an inferior product in Ream, I think he has quickly put them to bed.

It doesn’t surprise me how he’s coped because that’s how they make them over here. They are great pros, brought up and coached the right way.

The fact the American is left footed has been a real help, though, and his partnership with the right-sided David Wheater is ticking all the right boxes.

All of a sudden, Wheater is becoming a threat more consistently in the opposing box and, following from his two goals against Blackburn, he had another couple of good chances at Molineux on Saturday.

It helped that Ream hit the ground running with a good performance on his debut against Millwall in the FA Cup and he’s still improving.

Zat Knight and Dedryck Boyata are out of the side at the moment but they did okay against Tottenham in the cup, and, all of a sudden, Owen has got some options.

The last thing you want at this stage of the season is to look at your squad and know you’ve only got 11 players who deserve a place. That won’t be the case when we play Fulham on Saturday, and Owen has got some difficult decisions to make.

Another American, Clint Dempsey, is Fulham’s big threat. They are no mugs and have a few players who can cause damage. Ream and Wheater will have to be on their guard, that’s for sure.What counts in our favour is that they look safe now on 39 points and have never been the best of travellers.

I’m sure the message will again be make a fast start and get about them early on, and that’s where the fans will be needed once again.

They have played their part all season and don’t need a reminder from me about how important they will be in the last eight games.

There might have been a time when the atmosphere dropped off a bit – a time when we were all looking round and wondering if we’d gone off the rails for good.

But we’re back again and the atmosphere in the last few weeks has been as good as I have ever heard it.

The whole club have come together when we needed to, and that makes me a very proud Wanderer.

IT looked like three from five, but I think it’s now three from six in this relegation dogfight.

Aston Villa’s form worries me and I think their re-arranged game against us might prove a lot more important than people thought it would.

I can see them getting dragged in because alongside us, Blackburn and Wigan are suddenly showing signs of life and clawing back the points. I’d have written both of our local neighbours off at various stages of the season but Junior Hoillet and Victor Moses mean they have goal threats, and they will pick up points.

I think QPR will win a few games too – but it looks more and more likely that all the changes they have made just won’t gel in time. Wolves look relegated already after last Saturday. We’ve just got to take care of our own business, starting this weekend.

I’VE said it before here, and I’ll say it here again – you should write Kevin Davies off at your peril.

The doubters were queueing up a few months ago but thanks to some clever management, he was pulled out of the limelight at the right time, and now he looks hungry again.

When you are a leader like Big Kev you sometimes take too much on. You play through pain and it can be to your detriment.

Other players are feeding off you as the skipper and if you are not playing well, for whatever reason, then it can have a widespread effect on the team.

Owen took him out of the mix, fixed whatever niggling problems there were with a bit of rest, and now he’s contributing with two goals in a week. The one at Wolves was such an important one – I hope it spurs him on now to really compete for a first team place.

Having a fit, hungry Kevin Davies in the next few weeks would be a massive advantage. He still has a big part to play.

YOU wonder whether a certain Scottish winger might make a surprise appearance at some stage this weekend.

Gregg Wylde has had to bide his time a bit, like most new signings, while all the red tape gets cleared up around his exit from Rangers.

He was probably bought with one eye on next year but if the timimg is right, I’m sure Owen would have no problem chucking him in there.

Young Gregg will be bursting to play and he’ll have played in some big, big games up at Ibrox so there’s no doubt around his mentality.

It might be that a fresh pair of legs at this stage of the season makes all the difference.

YOU can make all the fuss you want to about Mark Davies “diving” for a penalty at Wolves, but it won’t stop Terry Connor being angry at his defender Roger Johnson.

You say time and time again for your players to stay on their feet when you have someone running at you in the penalty area. That way you don’t give him a chance to go down, or the referee to make a decision.

What contact there was is debatable and it’s not a cut and dried decision.

But I do know it’s about time we got one of those, because we’ve had enough go against us this season.