But for now, under-fire manager Sammy Lee will hope that his side's narrow win over Fulham will act as an exercise in confidence restoration.
Fulham's early play was orderly and composed with Hameur Bouazza looking particularly threatening on the left of a three-pronged attack.
Without a focal point through the middle, however, the home side were relatively well contained by one of the Premiership's more porous defences.
Danny Murphy steered a shot marginally wide from the edge of the area, but that effort aside, Bolton's Ali Al Habsi was rarely troubled.
A murderous angled Bouzza drive was cleared off the line and a wayward Simon Davies cross had the Oman international frantically back-pedalling.
The visitors were their usual threat from set-pieces and Kasey Keller forced into clutching a close-range header from Gerald Cid.
Daniel Braaten squandered the two clearest openings of the half, twice shooting meekly at Keller's legs, having been put clean through on both occasions.
What the Norwegian couldn't accomplish from close range, Danny Guthrie achieved from much further out 12 minutes after the restart.
The midfielder, on loan from Liverpool, capitalised on Chris Baird's weak clearance to thunder home a volley from 25 yards.
The game looked to be trundling towards a night of disappointment for the hosts before Healy intervened with 12 minutes remaining.
A cross from the left was diverted into the path of the Northern Ireland forward who despatched his shot with aplomb to force the game into extra-time.
The additional half hour saw was far more eventful than the 90 minutes which had preceded it.
Healy's instinctive lob rattled the bar, while at the other end Abdoulaye Meite had a header ruled out for offside and Kevin Davies saw a similar effort ruffle the top of the net.
With the threat of penalties looming ever larger, Sammy Lee introduced Stelios Giannakopoulos - it was to prove and inspired change.
The Greece international, making his first appearance of the season, ghosted in unnoticed at the far post and slid his shot beyond Keller with nine minutes remaining.
Diomansy Kamara forced a sprawling save from Al Habsi and a Davies free-kick clipped the bar, but Bolton clung on for a morale-boosting win.