By Mark Heys
March 14 2008

Bolton defender Gary Cahill says that the side must not dwell on their UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Sporting Lisbon and has urged his team mates to pick themselves up for the relegation six pointer away at Wigan Athletic on Sunday afternoon.

Cahill was made captain for the night at the Estadio Jose Alvalade last night and although upset at the 1-0 defeat owing to a late Bruno Pereirinha goal, the Sheffield-born star urged everyone to get the disappointment out of their system quickly.

Speaking to reporters right after the game in the Portuguese capital the ex-Aston Villa star was understandably in a sombre state.

"We need to get over it as soon as possible. A lot of players were rested for the game and Sunday is a massive game for us (Wigan away in the Premier League). Every game we play is vital at this stage. It starts on Sunday." said the talented centre back

Cahill says that the European defeat hurts and he refuted suggestions that the side picked by manager Gary Megson was incapable of getting a result

"It hurts a lot to go out.  Every time we play we go out to win. We knew it would be difficult and they would have a lot of the ball but we are bitterly disappointed to go out.

The defender felt Bolton gave a good account of themselves in the first half but Sporting exploited the gaps which the Wanderers made when looking for that elusive away goal.

"I thought we frustrated them in the first half - they had a lot of possession but didn't hurt us too much. We had to go for the win in the second half but we got exposed - and it was a good finish."

"I don't know what was lacking today - the game turned on its head when we had to push for the goal and the game opened up. Sporting have good players - but we are gutted to go out, the UEFA Cup is a big competition."

Thursday's defeat was Bolton's second ever loss in the competition but they can feel proud at reaching the final sixteen of the competition and beating their previous best in the cup two years ago.