The Posh produced an impressive response to their heavy loss at Lincoln last Sunday as they recorded their sixth win in eight games against a Trotters side whose own place in the top six is under threat.

They dropped to sixth and are now winless in four games, while Peterborough – who were in the relegation zone when Williams took charge in October – are up to 10th.

Williams said: “If we didn’t try to starve the opposition of possession of the ball, they would have got into some flow and it would have been a very different game.

“If we didn’t harass them when they did have the ball, it would have been a very different game, so I think we’ve done those two things well enough today to deserve to win.

“If we want to be a team that is a threat to every type of opposition then we need to be able to pick through teams and we need to be able to play direct, and our first goal was a great example.

“We knew that if we didn’t come out very well in the second half, it was going to be a different game because they would have been able to regroup.

“But it was a superbly taken goal [from Matt Garbett] that really gave us a huge foothold in the game.”

Jimmy-Jay Morgan put Peterborough ahead after Harry Leonard flicked on goalkeeper Alex Bass’ long kick, and Garbett doubled their lead with a cultured finish.

Sam Dalby momentarily put Bolton back in the game before Kyrell Lisbie’s deflected effort immediately restored the home side’s two-goal advantage.

Bolton boss Steven Schumacher said: “We spoke a lot this week about Peterborough being a good footballing team and if you’re not altogether, if you don’t get your press right, if you’re not aggressive enough in the central areas, they’ll hurt you.

“I felt we were on the back foot, they won too many duels against us, the 50-50s they came out of too often.

“We decided we needed to make some changes right before half-time to change the shape and match them up – at 1-0 down, I didn’t want to be 2-0 down at half-time.

“They got the second goal – again another poor goal for us to concede – and we responded, credit to the lads, they did respond, they got a goal back.

“At that moment, we were on top, we had some decent chances, but then to concede the third goal immediately after is the worst part about it because then we’ve got a mountain to climb.”