IT'S a good job that City are the only credit crunch proof side in the Premier League because at this rate they are going to have to buy their way out of trouble.

A week of games against the 'lesser lights' that was supposed to yield enough points to build a platform to launch an assault on the top of the pile has instead left them just two points from the relegation places and down in the dumps.

Patience is, fortunately, a virtue of the new Abu Dhabi owners but any more of this kind of insipid capitulation to sides in the basement sector and it is unlikely that City fans will be as forgiving.

Their favourites are, in cold hard statistics, currently closer to being a Championship side than a Champions League one and too much of a pushover away from the comfort of home.

The Blues have show in successive 2-0 away defeats that they cannot be trusted when it comes to a dogfight in difficult conditions and Mark Hughes faces some tough decisions in the coming months.

Having said that, one only has to refer the memory bank to spells against Liverpool, Chelsea, Pompey, West Ham and Stoke to know that it is far to early to start to condemning City and their new boss out of hand.

But while Chelsea, Liverpool and United continue to be the class swats, those in the Premier League's school of hard knocks are finding lessons hard to put into practice. Not least the Blues.

One win in six means that they will have to pull their socks up and sharpish after a stop-go, inconsistent opening to the new term that has them labelled as the pupil who can be brilliant but only when minds are concentrating on the job and not bent on entertaining the rest of the class or looking out of the window daydreaming.

And what of Bolton who having been the top flight's equivalent of a playground toughie under former boss Sam Allardyce but, according to some, are now in real danger of expulsion?

They battled hard for their win here and if determination is enough to guarantee survival come next May, then they will be fine but they remain slightly too one-dimensional.

City, unlike their hosts, have until this week not found goals hard to score but when their vaunted attacking midfielders are having a hard time they have terrible trouble keeping the opposition out.

Crucial

It is not that the defenders cannot do what it says on the tin but rather that they have had less midfield protection than they might have expected.

A less than impressed Hughes has spent a deal of his time recently lamenting the lack of mental strength in his side at crucial moments and their inability to see the job through to a winning conclusion. This performance will not have changed his mind on certain individuals.

He hinted before the short trip to the Reebok that there may be an alteration in approach in order to hammer home the point that defensive duties have also to be adhered to and so, free from suspension, Pablo Zabaleta was recalled to the back four though, slightly surprisingly, that was an end to the expected cull.

Sickly Brazilian Jo remained confined to quarters leaving Wales international Ched Evans, the more bustling of the club's two promising teenage strikers, to shoulder the attacking burden.

Whereas City could point to any number of superb goals scored this season, the under pressure Gary Megson spent the build up to this contest between the north-west's haves and have nots trying not to make excuses for the joint most unproductive attack in the top division which before yesterday had just eight to goals to its name in ten attempts.

In Megson's previous 38 games in charge Bolton had won just 10 times and they seldom seemed remotely in danger of improving that record in the first-half.

The danger signs were flashing but they will travel to Hull buoyed after their late show.

Anticipation

The first real chance of the bitty and deadly dull encounter that was partially spoiled by a cold and capricious wind came City's way just four minutes from the break when a well weighted ball from Evans sent Stephen Ireland scampering clear into what those of a certain age would describe as the inside right channel.

Ireland did little wrong but neither did Jussi Jaaskelainen who showed decent acceleration and even better anticipation to narrow the angle and make a saving block.

He was probably glad of the involvement for it might well have prevented the onset of frostbite.

And it helped prepare him for two more important stops in injury time first from Evans and then a rare header by Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Jaaskelainen's opposite number Joe Hart - one of three City players being watched by England head coach Fabio Capello - was similarly under employed though his eyes were busy watching a succession of crosses and back passes enter his penalty area.

This was an afternoon when the `best league in the world' took a day off. Invention was clearly on holiday, presumably with craft and guile as travelling companions. A loud drum and crowd noise is no substitute for decent football.

The better technical attacking stuff came from the visitors and only Jaaskelainen's positioning and agility saved Wanderers in the 54th minute when Evans' peach of a pass enabled to Robinho to cut inside from the left touchline and fire in a well struck shot.

Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan then belatedly brought Hart into action but he was always second favourite to beat the young keeper from a tight angle.

It heralded the home side's best spell and they had a shout for a penalty turned down in the 64th minute when Kevin Davies beat Ben Haim in the air and Matt Taylor crumpled under a Richard Dunne challenge.

Bolton's reward for perseverance came in the final 13 minutes when first substitute Ricardo Gardner, after Robinho had been caught in possession, found the net from close range and then Dunne put through his own goal trying to clear Gardner's cross to leave Megson relieved and Hughes perplexed.

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