Bolton striker Kevin Davies admits he has been left embarrassed by the club's plight this season after narrowly escaping relegation.The Trotters, who claimed top-eight finishes in each of the previous four years, travel to Chelsea on Sunday to end their most turbulent campaign in recent times.

Last October Sammy Lee was bundled out of the Reebok Stadium after just 171 days in charge and Gary Megson installed as his successor.

Megson's reign has been a rollercoaster ride but last weekend's 2-0 win over Sunderland has secured safety barring a bizarre series of results.

Davies said: "I don't think this season has been a success at all. At times it's been embarrassing to be down there.

"Living in the town has been embarrassing when you consider what we've done in previous seasons.

"It (survival) is an achievement when you consider where we were but we're out of it now and we just want to write off this season and not be involved in anything like this ever again."

Davies believes manager Megson has not received due credit for guiding the club to the brink of safety.

Eyebrows were raised when Megson was appointed but he answered his critics in some style.

Bolton were bottom of the table with five points from their opening 10 games when Megson took the helm.

And they looked doomed as recently as April 5 when they were thumped 4-0 at Aston Villa the week after letting slip a 2-0 lead at home to 10-man Arsenal.

But since then they have climbed out of trouble with 10 points from their last four games in a stunning late run.

Davies said: "I don't think Gary has been given the credit he deserves. He came in and picked up a bunch of lads who were really down at the time.

"Confidence was probably at rock-bottom and we were rock-bottom of the table.

"Obviously it was going to be a tough job for any manager to come in but he came in and lifted the place with his personality.

"At the time when he took over, everyone was down and training was a bit flat, like you would probably expect.

"But he lifted the place and training became fun again. It got back to being somewhere where you wanted to come in and work."

Megson discarded the passing game Lee had attempted to employ and Bolton reverted to a more physical game which harvested so much success under Sam Allardyce.

Davies added: "We went back to the way we used to play.

"It's been difficult, we've had good runs and bad runs and it's been a rollercoaster.

"But the manager's job was to come in and get us safe and he's done that, so he deserves great credit."

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