Knight sets Trotters scoring target

The giant defender scored for only the third time in three years when he put the Trotters in front against United. It is a paltry total for someone who stands six foot six inches in his bare feet. And he knows it. "I should score more often," said the 30-year-old. "It is my downfall really. "With my size, I can create problems inside the penalty area. "I was winding the boys up beforehand, saying I was going to score. But I feel as though I am going to do that every week. "Hopefully I can start that now. I have set myself a little goal of getting five or six this season. "That is my first. Hopefully I will get more." Knight's main job is at the back, which has been going rather well so far this term despite changing central defensive partners at regular intervals. Gary Cahill would be the usual partner. But when he was ruled out through suspension following his controversial dismissal at Arsenal, Andy O'Brien stepped in. But the former Newcastle man has been sidelined by an ankle injury, so Sam Ricketts - normally a full-back - stepped into the breach to try and contain Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney; a job the pair did rather well. "We felt Berbatov was going to be lively so we tried to put a lot of pressure on him as soon as he got the ball and clamp him down," said Knight. "And although we know Wayne Rooney has not hit the form everyone wants you have to give our defenders credit for keeping it that way. "He can be on form next week." Not that Knight was entirely happy. Having established themselves in a winning position, the 30-year-old was not impressed that "the smallest guy on the pitch scores with a header". Nevertheless, as he cheerfully admitted, before the game Bolton would have been satisfied with a point and the fact their opinion changed as the contest was in mid-flow was further reason for encouragement. Now the task is to maintain that form next week when Cahill will be available again to tackle a West Brom side flying high following their defeat of Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. "I hope people will start to take Bolton seriously," he said. "The standard has been set. Now we must maintain it. "We are mixing our game up quite well and we have managed to do it against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester United. "We have proved we can play football. "What we need to do now is pick up points against the teams we feel are going to be around us, such as West Brom. "Everyone is feeling confident so if we can put that performance in at West Brom, we can climb up that table a little bit more."