Coyle pleased to be out of bottom three

Bolton manager Owen Coyle refused to gloat after getting the better of his former club Burnley.

A goal from Chung-Yong Lee in the 34th minute was all that separated the struggling sides at the Reebok Stadium.

The 1-0 win meant Bolton moved out of the relegation zone and Burnley into it for the first time since winning promotion to the Barclays Premier League under Coyle’s leadership.

There was a lot of emotion riding on the game as the Glasgow-born boss only switched clubs at the beginning of the month.

But he stressed: “The important thing was to take three points and we managed to do that.

“There is a stigma in being in the bottom three and it is fantastic to be out of there.

“We gave two good performances against Arsenal without any reward, so it is very pleasing to get this win. The players just need to believe in themselves a bit more.

“We recognise there is hard work to be done but I have been given a lift by the way have gone about their work

“I do believe ourselves and Burnley will stay up. Burnley played with courage and heart, which I knew they would.”

Coyle went over to applaud the visiting Burnley fans at the end of game despite being taunted with chants of “Judas”.

He said: “I wanted to thank them for the support they offered me when I was manager. They are an incredible set of supporters. It is such a special club with special people.

“We expected a fair bit of stick and I cannot complain. It is probably testimony to the job we did and they felt aggrieved when we left.

“If we are getting biblical perhaps they should call me Moses as I led them out of the wilderness from the Championship to the Premier League.”

Burnley manager Brian Laws has suffered three straight defeats since replacing Coyle and next up are Chelsea at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Chris McCann (knee) and Graham Alexander (calf) both came off injured in the opening stages to add to his problems. Michael Duff then suffered a shoulder problem.

Laws said: “Our game plan went out of the window in the first 15 minutes and we had to re-organise then and at half time.

“While we need to defend better, the players are suffering and we could do with some new faces by the end of week.”