Bolton Wanderers boss Gary Megson was delighted with his players after their 4-1 thumping of struggling Sunderland.

Matt Taylor, Gary Cahill and Johan Elmander, twice, replied to Djibril Cisse's early strike.

Megson insisted he had always had confidence in his side moving into the top half of the table after their third consecutive win lifted them up to seventh.

Megson said: "There's no secret and the only thing we're doing differently that we weren't doing beforehand is scoring goals.

"Our performances are not much different except in terms of confidence. When we score goals all the other aspects of our game come to the fore and people start to realise what we've got."

And Megson once again hailed Elmander for a performance which ought to have yielded a hat-trick and which continued to wipe out the memory of his long barren spell in front of goal.

Megson added: "I thought Johan's best chance was the early one when he beat Craig Gordon and put it over the top and I was delighted by his response because he didn't hide or feel sorry for himself.

"He scored two fantastic goals and had one kicked off the line so I'm really pleased with him. People have focused on the fact that he hasn't scored enough goals but his performances have always been really good."