"Bolton are a good side," he said. "They have won at Chelsea, held Arsenal and beaten us in the Carling Cup, they were the form team.
"But I could feel a new strength and solidity, and you cannot win without that. The defensive play must be strong. Everybody was prepared to run the extra yard. They only had one chance in the first half, and that situation gave us confidence.
"You could feel before the game the determination. The players, like our fans, were so disappointed with the defeat by Southampton in our last home game, they wanted to put that right.
"We did not panic in the first part of the game when things did not go so well. We kept our cool, our composure, and got ourselves into a good position."