IAN Evatt praised Dapo Afolayan’s second-half impact in Wanderers’ 1-0 win at Shrewsbury.

For the second game running the former West Ham man started on the bench and with the game goalless, he was introduced at the break for midfielder Kieran Lee.

Bolton had failed to put a shot on target in the first 45 minutes but improved as the game wore on, grabbing a last-minute winner thanks to Dion Charles’s brilliant volley, created by Afolayan’s well-timed pass.

“I’m delighted with him and for him,” Evatt said of his top scorer, Afolayan. “We have to remember - and he has to remember - that this is his first full season in men’s professional football, so he’s going to have dips.

“He has huge expectations of himself and we also have huge expectations of him and sometimes you have dips in form. We all understand that.

“In football terms and education, he’s still a young player, but his attitude when coming on today was first class.

“We have just said that to them in the dressing room – he made a great pass to Dion on the edge of the box and it was a wonderful finish, but 30 seconds later after the goal, Dapo was sprinting to the corner flag to block a cross for a corner, and that’s what it’s about.

“It’s defending as a team and attacking as a team and Dapo epitomised that today.”

Evatt was also happy for his January signing Charles, who scored his first Bolton goal to secure three points, dedicating the strike to his new-born second daughter, Hattie.

“I’m delighted for Dion because he has had a rough time of it in recent weeks,” he said. “It is great for his family that he has a goal for Hattie, and we’d talked about that last night.

“It is always nice when you buy a centre forward and they come in with expectation that they get off the mark quickly. And for it to be a winning goal in the 88th minute in front of what was a magnificent travelling support today is great for everybody.”

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