Manchester City’s players will retreat to the beach now, many of them probably never to be seen in the club’s shirt again, but for Mark Hughes the hard work stays here. He received some welcome words of reassurance about his future from Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the City chairman, last week, but the manager knows that he will be out of a job if his team end up in the same position – tenth – next season.

On the surface, finishing one place and five points worse off than they did last year, despite a subsequent cash injection of £124.2 million, might be considered an abject failure, but that would overlook much of the good groundwork that Hughes has done. Only Manchester United, the Barclays Premier League champions, won more games at home than City and if Hughes can improve his team’s away form even marginally next season, the top-six finish demanded by Sheikh Mansour, the owner, will be achievable, especially with the expected influx of players.

Hughes and his coaching staff have been invited to Abu Dhabi this week for a “working holiday” by the club’s owners, but the Welshman knows that the ensuing few months could make or break his regime.

“That’s the aim [a top-six finish], we would be disappointed if we didn’t do that,” Hughes said. “It was a big learning curve for us all, it’s a process that has taken longer than I thought if I’m honest, but we’ll have the benefit of this season next year.”

Bolton Wanderers barely posed a threat to City yesterday, with Gary Megson reiterating that his team would be relegated next season if they failed to add to his squad in the summer. Felipe Caicedo put City in front from a well-worked free kick in the eighth minute, but the home team should have won at a canter.

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): S Given 6 – M Richards 6, R Dunne 6, N Onuoha 7, W Bridge 6 (sub: G Berti, 85min) – N de Jong 6, V Kompany 6 (sub: P Zabaleta, 82) – S Wright-Phillips 7, S Ireland 7 (sub: V Weiss, 72), Robinho 7 – F Caicedo 7. Substitutes not used: J Hart, V Bojinov, M Petrov, Benjani Mwaruwari.

Bolton Wanderers (4-5-1): J Jaaskelainen 7 – G Steinsson 5, G Cahill 6, D Shittu 6 (sub: A O’Brien, 83), J Samuel 5 – K Davies 5, F Muamba 5, G McCann 5, M Davies 5, M Taylor 5 (sub: C Basham, 60 5) – J Elmander 3 (sub: M Riga, 83). Substitutes not used: A al-Habsi, S Puygrenier, T Cohen, N Hunt.

Referee M Clattenburg Attendance 47,202

Players of the season

Manchester City Stephen Ireland

Despite City’s big-money signings in attack, he has been their most threatening figure, while also doing defensive duties.

Bolton Wanderers Kevin Davies

The leading scorer in the league for Bolton despite playing wide right, he was powerful in the air yet used the ball intelligently on the ground.