What the Papers Say

The Times

Watching Brief Dismays Jewell

Bashing the BBC has become such a popular pastime that even Paul Jewell isgetting in on the act. Everyone complains about the endless repeats and the reality TV shows but only a manager would get hot under the collar about the running order of Match of the Day.

“My only ambition is not to be last on Match of the Day,” Jewell said after watching his side win three consecutive league games for the first time this year. “If we can do that, if we can get more than two minutes' airtime and they even talk about our game afterwards, I will be a happy man — it's normally past the witching hour when we are on."

The Observer

McCulloch Shines to put Jewell's men on a roll

This was a derby of limited style and substance, but Wigan certainly weren't complaining as Lee McCulloch fired a 78th-minute goal for his side's third successive Premiership win. It was no more than they deserved, having played resolutely after being disrupted by two first-half injuries.

For Bolton it was another disappointing day. They have lost their past three league and cup matches and unless Sam Allardyce can find goals from somewhere they could continue to falter.

The Mirror

Bolton 0 Wigan 1

Wigan made one of the shortest trips in football - and proved they have travelled an awful long way.

The distance between Wigan's JJB Stadium and the Reebok is just seven miles but until recently it could have been at the other end of the footballing spectrum.

Bolton were the big boys, mixing it with the game's elite. Wigan by comparison were the hillbilly relations stuck in a football wilderness. But on Saturday it was Wigan who lorded it with a second successive away win.

The Independent

Jewell aims for Basics

On this day, Bolton were 17th to Wigan's 13th in the old Third Division. Bolton were destined to complete a fall from First Division to Fourth in seven seasons; Wigan were still a decade away from beginning their major climb.

Bolton, under Sam Allardyce, are establishing a stability in the top division the club have not enjoyed since the 1950s. Now their near neighbours believe they can emulate the model.

Lee McCulloch's goal 11 minutes from the end not only ruined Bolton's plan to complete at least a resilient response to their drubbing against Manchester United a week earlier, but confirmed to Jewell that his efforts to supplement enthusiasm with steel in his side are working. After winning only one game of their first seven, Wigan have taken maximum points from their last three. "We've just gone back to basics," Jewell said. "We'd gone away from what had given us our success.