Wanderers make the longest away trip of the season on Saturday afternoon when they travel to the south coast to tackle Paul Hart's Portsmouth.

Ahead of the match, Bolton Wanderers manager Gary Megson previewed the clash at Fratton Park.

Gary, we are almost a week on from Stamford Bridge. What are your thoughts on the team's performance?
I thought in the first 20-25 minutes we were ok, but of course what always takes the eye are goals, and we scored three goals in eight minutes.

Overall we played quite well, but we had an aberration for a period just before half time and after half time, but as I say I thought we did okay. It just shows what we are capable of when things tend to go how we want them to go.

You have often talked about the spirit in this team. Do you think the second half performance typified that?
Without a doubt. I don't think there are too many football clubs in the Premier League that could have come back in the same manner. The players all work their socks off every time they play, the spirit is good and they have that battling quality.

You go to Portsmouth, one of the more intimidating grounds for an away side to visit, how do you approach that game?
Well we know what we want to do, and we know what we are going to have to do to achieve a decent result down there.

Paul (Hart) has probably got the biggest side in terms of stature and height in the Premier League, so set pieces are going to be a problem so we need to make sure we are ready for that.

It's another massive game from our point of view because we know if we can get a result it makes life a little bit easier for us when we come back to the Reebok, but of course we know that they will be looking to put three points on the board as well.

Matt Taylor will be returning to Portsmouth, a club that obviously he spent a long time at. The fans idolised him there and it's the same type of reaction he is now getting these days at Bolton.
When Matt was at Portsmouth he caught the eye, not with the amount of goals he got but the quality. I remember him scoring at Sunderland from about 40 yards with a volley and there was a little period where he was scoring goal of the month contenders each and every month.

From our own point of view, we have been delighted with him. He has scored 10 goals so far this season. The quality he possesses from set pieces enables others to score goals as well and his work rate is fantastic - I don't know if anyone works as hard in the Premier League.

Going back to Portsmouth is a huge thing for him, it will be an emotional thing for because he was so popular. He has been to see me to ask if he could be question for the day but unfortunately he can't do that, Kevin Davies is the skipper.

Matt Taylor thinks he is playing the best football of his career here at Bolton. Have you seen that kind of improvement since he came here?
He's been terrific, we can't ask anymore of him. Even without the goals and the things that are catching the eye at the moment, he works his socks off.

By virtue of that we would be happy, but the fact that he has 10 goals and plays wide left is a great testament to the quality of Matt. Also, the fact that he creates a lot of goals from set pieces, these are things we knew we would be getting, that is why we wanted to get him into the football club.

Have you been impressed with the progress that Paul Hart has made since he was appointed manager of Portsmouth?
I'm sure Paul's brief when he took the job as a manager would be to long term keep them up and short term steady the ship which would to enable them to stay up. He's done both at the moment and they are out of the bottom three.

I saw Paul's comments last week on the television after the game against West Brom and he said that was the worst that they have played since he has been in charge. That would have been a bit of a disappointment for him but I am sure they will come out all guns blazing because they know it's an opportunity for themselves to get three points.

They are at home but we have got to stand up and make sure we battle for every blade of grass.

The financial rewards obviously change depending on which position you finish in and with the league so tight, how important could that be to Bolton come the end of the season?
Well it's hugely important. All football clubs up and down the country regardless of what division they are in, are businesses and so a good finishing position has a significant impact.