The Trotters looked prime candidates for relegation until an unbeaten run of five matches helped them to safety.

Prior to that sequence, Bolton were beaten 4-0 by Cahill's former club Aston Villa, but the defender is impressed at the way they picked themselves up from that setback.

"In just three or four weeks we became a totally different side from the one that went out and played so poorly against Villa. It was down to everyone who works here," he told the club's official website.

"When the pressure piles on you like it did, you need people to step forward and take responsibility for their jobs and that's what each and every one of us did.

thousands watching

"It could have been easy to buckle. But instead, when the pressure was on us, the lads really took to it.

"Even just being in the game at this level there is a lot of pressure, thousands watching you week in and week out, the speculation in the newspapers and on the internet every day.

"But when you've been in the position we found ourselves in, that pressure is multiplied. It was really tense. The defeat against Arsenal was a massive knock-back for us and the Villa game, the same.

"But for us to keep on taking those knocks and keep on getting back up says a great deal about the strength of character in the squad and shows just what we're capable of."

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