West Ham 1 Bolton 2:IT IS the 91st minute. The away team, one goal up but one man down, have possession, the ball at the feet of their centre-half, who is out of position on the right side of the pitch.

It is hard to think of many teams, particularly among those fighting near the bottom of the division, who would react to this situation as Bolton did on Saturday. Zat Knight, the centre-half in question, took the ball past two defenders and ran 70 yards before sending in a cross which Kevin Davies volleyed against the bar.

“We got the job in the bottom three and people said the only way you get out of that is you fight, you scratch and you do all those things,” explained Bolton’s manager, Owen Coyle. “But I believe if you’re able to get the ball down and pass and move as well, that can only help.”

After 10 away league games without a win and four without so much as a goal, Bolton tore into West Ham with an almost violent vigour. Their strikers must have been as bewildered as their opponents: after the famine, a feast.

“We usually start like a house on fire,” said West Ham’s Kieron Dyer afterwards. Here the home team started as if their own house was on fire.

Kevin Davies gave further proof of his value. “He’s a top man and a great captain,” said Coyle after the striker scored one goal, winning a rather unfair fight with Julien Faubert to meet Lee Chung-yong’s cross with an emphatic header, and was largely responsible for the other, with which Jack Wilshere became this season’s youngest scorer.

After half-time West Ham sporadically added attackers until by the end they had five but still little idea what to do with them.

Alessandro Diamanti’s excellent late goal was out of keeping with his, or his team’s, performance. “I think this game, it’s going to be a big lesson for everybody,” said Zola, hopefully.