Unpredictable league puts Megson in confident mood

Back in the 1960s, when Gary Megson was growing up, his dad was playing for Sheffield Wednesday and sanity still kept hysteria in check, no one mentioned relegation until Christmas at least and autumn league positions were barely even touched upon in serious football conversation.

He must hanker after those days sometimes. Less than two weeks ago, after Bolton had stumbled unwittingly into the Harry Redknapp revival at Tottenham and then slipped to defeat at home to Everton, his team were in the bottom three and the attitude towards him among Bolton fans turned decidedly ugly.

Yet, at close of business on Saturday, just two matches later, Bolton had leapt from 19th place to ninth. Presumably, by today's terrace logic, it's now goodbye to going down, hello Europe.

"It just shows you how close the league is," Megson said. "I've never known it that you can get two results and absolutely sail up the table. To be honest, [as a manager] you don't really look at those things at this stage. But it does make a difference to how people look at you. When you're bottom of the table there is a lot of pressure on the players. But, as you've seen, all you need is two results. We're now six points better off and in an entirely healthier position.

"But the object is still the same, which is trying to get away from the bottom of the table. There's probably 14 teams trying to do that."

Megson's fear is that his players will suffer for the abuse aimed at him. So far, however, their resolve is strong, as was demonstrated on Saturday in a gutsy defensive performance underpinned by three outstanding saves from Jussi Jaaskelainen – two from the Brazilian, Geovanni – as Hull, trailing to Matt Taylor's goal five minutes into the second half, laid late siege to the Bolton goal.

"At the end of the day the fans' reaction doesn't mean anything because what is important is what we think about inside that changing room," Jaaskelainen said.

"This time last season I was very concerned because we had not been working well as a team. But this season it has been a different story."

Three defeats in a row has rudely wakened Hull from their dream start but manager Phil Brown insists no alarm bells are sounding yet. "I don't think it is a reality check because we could have won the game," he said. "The reality is that we're good enough to be where we are."

Goals: Taylor (50) 0-1.

Hull City (4-3-1-2): Myhill; McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Dawson (Ricketts, 64); Boateng (Folan, 73), Ashbee, Marney; Geovanni; King, Cousin (Mendy, 54). Substitutes not used: Duke (gk), Barmby, Garcia, Halmosi.

Bolton Wanderers (4-3-3): Jaaskelainen; Steinsson, Cahill, A O'Brien, Samuel; Muamba, McCann, Taylor; Davies, Elmander (Smolarek, 77), Gardner. Substitutes not used: Al Habsi (gk), Helguson, Shittu, Basham, Sissons, Obadeyi.

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).

Bookings: Hull Dawson; Bolton Muamba, Gardner.

Man of the match: Jaaskelainen.

Attendance: 24,903.