The Fulham manager was delighted not just with the quality of the football played but also by the way his team stood up to a late onslaught.

Zoltan Gera fired the home team in front with a low drive into the bottom left corner on 15 minutes and Bobby Zamora doubled the advantage five minutes before the break with a sublime strike.

He produced a sweet drag back and spin away from Danny Shittu before firing into the bottom right corner from 18 yards to reward Fulham's enterprise.

But they had to withstand a nervy finale after Kevin Davies pulled one back with a header nine minutes from time.

However Fulham proved they could mix style with steel as they held out strongly to move up to seventh in the Barclays Premier League.

Hodgson said: "I thought we played very well for 80 minutes and dominated the game totally. We could have had more goals because Zoltan Gera hit the bar with a header and their keeper made five top class saves.

"Their goal gave them renewed heart but I was pleased we had the character and the heart to stand up to a battering from all angles. Even when you are playing really well and 2-0 up, you are never sheltered from conceding a goal.

"You have to have the quality not to allow it to affect you and I was pleased we stood up to it."

After narrowly avoiding the drop last season, the south-west London side appear to have rebuilt well over the summer.

They moved the ball around nicely in midfield and have a good cutting edge up front with Zamora and debutant Andrew Johnson forging a promising partnership.

And they also had the resolve to deal with the sporadic threats from a Bolton side who never really got going with only Kevin Davies really posing a threat.

And Hodgson is pleased with the progress saying: "I like to think we are improving all the time.

"The philosophy we have adopted since January has not changed although the personnel has and we have a bit more quality this season.

"I was very happy with Andrew Johnson's debut. There was a bit of extra pressure on him to show the decision to select him was right because the others did very well last time against Arsenal.

"We had to wait until he was 100 per cent fit because he is the sort of player who will play through injury and you are never 100 per cent sure if strains have fully healed or not. That is why we took him off as a precaution

"Bobby Zamora got a good goal. He has got that ability but he has to be careful not to overdo it and we are working on getting him to release the ball sooner to fit in with our style of play.

"The players are getting more comfortable and more in tune with the type of football we are expecting from them - both when we have the ball and when we don't."