International breaks are usually the bugbear of Premier League managers but Bolton's Owen Coyle had reason to toast the recent fortnight off after averting what would have been the club's worst run in the top flight since 1903. A seventh straight defeat would have delivered that ignominious statistic but they halted the slide in style.

"The break probably helped us because we only had four or five away and Gary Cahill came back early this week," Coyle said. "We had lost games and lost confidence, so the two weeks was great for us because we got them together and got them working hard every day but with smiles on their faces."

Bolton's joie de vivre translated into an opening goal in the fourth minute when Darren Pratley's pass released Chris Eagles on the right, and another of their midfielders, Nigel Reo-Coker, converted the subsequent centre with his chest via a deflection off the Wigan captain, Gary Caldwell.

Bolton had conceded 21 goals in the half-dozen defeats that anchored them to the bottom, but their front-foot approach exposed Wigan's own defensive frailty. "The defeat was not because we were not good enough," claimed the Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez. "It was because we were poor on our decisions and we were punished."

Most evidently so on the stroke of half-time when, only five minutes after Mohamed Diamé's delicious caress over Jaaskelainen from 25 yards had levelled things, Steve Gohouri was pickpocketed by Kevin Davies. The ball was swiftly relayed to David Ngog, the £4m August acquisition from Liverpool, and deposited past Wigan's former Bolton goalkeeper Ali al-Habsi in a flash.

Bolton should have been out of sight after the break but were left to rue erratic finishing. Davies was presented with the best opportunity of all when the referee, Mike Dean, spotted Caldwell's hands on Boyata's back in an aerial challenge. But his penalty lacked precision and power, and Habsi beat his effort away.

So it was not until the death that Bolton were able to establish the two-goal cushion their expansive and attractive gameplan merited. Eagles slalomed through the challenges and produced a composed finish from 10 yards in front of the 3,500 who had made the seven-mile trip.

So Wanderers are off the bottom and apparently back on track. "It's like a kid falling off a bike," Coyle said. "You have to get back on it and we have now done that."