IT sounded an idle boast, but Nicky Hunt had good reason to suggest today that there was more to come from Bolton Wanderers.

Third in the table going into this weekend's fixtures, the Whites have exceeded even their own expectations in the first few weeks of the season.

The feeling was, even from their own manager, that while they had improved the quality of their first 11, they lacked the strength in depth to cope with a crop of injuries.

Then, suddenly, they got one.

Last season's Player of the Year, Ricardo Gardner, was already ruled out until late October at the earliest and he was joined in the treatment room by Joey O'Brien and Henrik Pedersen - a good-sized portion of their defensive unit and injuries Sam Allardyce could well have done without.

But, in adversity, Wanderers have shown the spirit that has been the hallmark of Big Sam's teams over the past seven years, and have not only held their own in the top half of the table, but have also shown a greater determination than ever.

"We've lost players like Jay Jay Okocha, Radhi Jaidi and Bruno N'Gotty, but, with the players the manager has brought in, I'd say that, for commitment and hard work, this is the best squad of players we've had," Hunt said.

"It's a tight-knit squad, quite small really and we don't want too many injuries, but we're up to third in the table and we really haven't performed to the best of our abilities yet. There is more to come."

Hunt, in fact, is a player who has profited from that crop of injuries, a beneficiary of the "what goes around comes around" syndrome.

Round about this time last season, a broken leg stopped him in the tracks of his Premiership progress, which had earned him England Under 21 honours, and he saw young O'Brien blossom in the right-back berth he had made his own in the previous two seasons. Now he has taken advantage of O'Brien's misfortune to reclaim his place.

And, while he has had one or two indifferent performances, his form in the victories over Portsmouth and Liverpool suggest that he is making the most of his second chance.

"Last season was my first experience of not being in the first team and it was a setback, personally," he admitted.

"Joey came in and did a fantastic job. But every footballer wants to play every week and, although it's unfortunate when players get injured, you've got to take your chance."

Hunt, who suffers the same fate as other home-grown products down the years in struggling to attract the acclaim of the high-priced imports, admits to having had doubts that he would ever regain his place.

But he has put the doubts to the back of his mind and is more determined than ever to cement his place as a Premiership regular.

And helping Wanderers produce another shut-out at St James' Park tomorrow will go a long way to securing that treasured place on the team sheet.

"We haven't had a good result there for a long time," he said, referring specifically to recent results on Tyneside where Wanderers, in fact, have not won since 1959.

"But we'd never really had any good results at Portsmouth apart from a draw there when we clinched a UEFA Cup place two seasons ago. We worked hard and got a win and hopefully we can turn the tide again tomorrow."