Speaking after the full-time whistle, Kevin Davies had no doubts that Wanderers ran out worthy winners at Upton Park.

The captain hailed every aspect of the team's performance, but made special reference to the blistering start which helped put Wanderers two goals to the good inside the first 16 minutes.

Davies led from the front in magnificent fashion, scoring the opening goal with a trademark header - the fifth time he had found the net in his last six appearances against the Hammers.

"We deserved it - the first half was unbelievable," said Davies.

"We forced them onto the back foot and we knew that the first goal would be important. We were disappointed to come into half-time at 2-0 because we had some great opportunities to kill off West Ham and put the game to bed.

"They had a pretty good record at home of late with three or four clean sheets, but we felt that we could put them under a bit of pressure with our wide players getting at their full-backs.

"There was always the chance that they could get back in it and score one late on, but I thought that defensively we were brilliant and we were prepared to throw bodies where it hurt."



Davies - the most senior outfield player in Wanderers starting line-up with over 500 league appearances to his name - also had words of praise for Jack Wilshere, who was making just his third top-flight start.

The England U21 international doubled Bolton's lead with a fine finish after Davies' perseverance caught West Ham defender James Tomkins napping.

Davies added: "Jack's potential is huge and we are pleased to get him on loan. At such a young age, he seems to have an old head on his shoulders.

"He's composed, great on the ball and as everyone saw today, he is a great finisher as well."

With six points in the bag from their last two outings, Owen Coyle's side now move onto another tough away challenge at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening.

And Davies believes that they can head up to the North East in fine spirits following the last two results.

"Back-to-back wins in this league are massive," explained the skipper.

"We had targeted this run of four games and we have won two of them to start with, so it's great for us.

"Now we go to Sunderland, who are having a few problems themselves and have not won for a while. We can go there and hopefully start the game similar today and try to get that first goal again."