Ricketts rocks Bolton boat

Michael Ricketts raised a damning question over Bolton's uncertain future in the aftermath of the Reebok Stadium victory that breathed greater life into Derby's bid to beat the Premiership drop.

Struggling striker Ricketts and his team-mates watched Derby's players, 3,000 fans and manager John Gregory celebrate their 3-1 win like a cup final - even though they remain in the bottom three, a point adrift of Sam Allardyce's unhappy Wanderers.

Now Ricketts, stung by recent criticism from Allardyce - who has already dropped him once - fears the worst unless Wanderers can regain the one-for-all bonding they will need to hold off Derby's late charge.

Ricketts' own fortunes - his goal drought has now reached eight games - inevitably mirror those of his team as Bolton have now won just once in 17 matches. While he stopped short of pointing the finger directly at Allardyce, Ricketts showed how deeply the manager's comments had penetrated when he said: 'We're not all together at the moment, and we need to get there to work it all out. As a striker you live or die by your goals, but if you're not scoring then confidence comes into it and that's when a manager and team-mates should be helping you out. I think my team-mates are, let's leave it at that.' At least Ricketts will be in demand if Bolton lose their battle to stay up.

Derby should share the same concerns by rights, but Gregory has galvanised the club to such an extent they are removing barriers to their survival by the week and playing assured football to boot.

Defensive rock Danny Higginbotham encapsulated that confidence by usurping senior pro Fabrizio Ravanelli to take the late penalty that cost goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen his second red card of the season and provided Old Trafford discard Higginbotham with a deserved first Derby goal. Higginbotham said: 'The boss has given us the confidence and belief. He's great in the dressing room, geeing up certain players and telling us we're good enough to get out of this situation.'

Higginbotham's real worth was in Derby's penalty box and his 50th-minute clearance off the line from Gudni Bergsson was pinpointed by Allardyce as the turning point: 'Sometimes, small moments can change seasons.'