Coyle cheered by five-star Bolton

Bolton manager Owen Coyle said his players delivered what he requested and more to thrash Stoke City 5-0 at the Reebok Stadium.

Two goals apiece from Ivan Klasnic and Chris Eagles, together with one from Kevin Davies, helped Bolton record their first home win of the English Premier League season on Sunday.

With Bolton inside the relegation side following a poor early showing in their campaign, Coyle knew the pressure was mounting on his team to pick up points.

“Well there’s no way of getting away from the level of performance and how crucial the win was because we’ve got to accept that, having made a slow start as we have done, then every game that comes your way becomes bigger,” Coyle said.

“What I asked was, regardless of the way the result went, I wanted to make sure that we had a big performance in the way that I like and … they (the players) did that today.”

“The quality of goals was there for everybody to see, so there’s no doubt it was a valuable three points.”

“I thought the fans were magnificent, they got behind us from start to finish and it was nice to reward them today, (and) put a smile on their faces.”

Bolton had been on the wrong end of a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Stoke in last season’s FA Cup semi-final, a defeat that cost them a place in the Europa League.

Coyle denied the embarrassing loss at Wembley Stadium was a motivating factor heading into Sunday’s fixture.

“I think that what happened before (in the semi-final) … all credit to Stoke, they’re reaping the benefits in Europe, but our focus and energy today was to address what is happening in this Premier League (season) and not before, it was just about winning.”

“This can be a catalyst to move forward.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis did not hold back when discussing the scale of his team’s defeat.

“I’ve managed the club now for over eight years and over 200 games and that’s one of the worst performances I’ve ever managed this football club in, in respect of being competitive and doing the basics properly,” he said.

“We were very, very poor … Bolton were better than us all over the pitch.”