Coyle confident about future

Owen Coyle has no doubts Bolton have a bright future, just as long as they can survive the relegation dogfight this season.

The Trotters were not expected to be among the strugglers after an impressive campaign last season but have found it tough going virtually from the start.

They boosted their hopes of staying up significantly on Saturday though, with a victory over QPR that lifted them out of the bottom three and dropped Rangers into it.

Coyle has remained resolutely upbeat despite their problems, and the Bolton boss said: “We never get too carried away or too low because we know the big picture and what we’re trying to do at the club.

“Our young players will continue to get better but short term we have to make sure we stay in the league and from there we’d be in a fantastic position to move this club forward.”

Coyle was full of praise for the performance, with Darren Pratley giving the hosts the lead eight minutes before the break and Ivan Klasnic netting the winner in the 86th minute after Djibril Cisse had equalised just after half-time.

While it was undoubtedly a huge win for Bolton, the main talking point after the game was the officials’ failure to award QPR a goal in the 19th minute despite Clint Hill’s header clearly crossing the line.

Bolton defender Sam Ricketts said: “I was right next to Bobby Zamora and he was adamant it was in. I couldn’t really tell, I just thought it was a great save at first.

“It would have made a difference them getting the first goal but they got one in the second half that was offside so in a round-about way it sort of evens it out.”

The Premier League are hopeful of introducing goal-line technology for next season, and Ricketts believes it cannot come soon enough.

The Wales international said: “I think it needs to be introduced.

“From our point of view, we’d be hugely disappointed if that had gone against us.

“But we’ve been unlucky this season so it was nice for it to turn around.”