WANDERERS still have a mountainous task on their hands to make the play-offs but Elias Kachunga is only concerned about the next step.

Ian Evatt’s side clawed back some lost ground on the top six with victory at Crewe and sit nine points behind the pack with seven games to play.

Kachunga accepts there is no margin for error, which means Bolton will need results against promotion-chasers Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday in their next three games.

“We just have to look at ourselves and win all the games, then look at where we are,” he said of a tough-run.

“For us, we don’t have to look around us. If we do our job then we might have a chance at the end but we finish the season well and then go to the next.

“There are seven games coming up, we need to win them all.”

Victory at Crewe was hard-earned. A tricky playing surface and blustery winds forced Bolton to play a direct style that did not sit well with them.

But Kachunga, who came off the bench to win a free-kick which led directly to the winning goal, felt the team fully deserved the win.

“It was a really difficult pitch, especially on that one side,” he said of a sandy surface at the Mornflake Stadium. “You have to really step up in these games and really concentrate.

“They were massive points. These are not easy games but they are the ones you have to fight, win set pieces, and we did that.

“It was an unbelievable crowd as well. The supporters gave us the energy at the end.”

Wanderers had been heading for a result which would have surely killed-off any play-off chances until the introduction of Kachunga, winning goalscorer Amadou Bakayoko and Kyle Dempsey towards the end of the game.

Kachunga was delighted for his team-mate, Bakayoko, who scored a career-best 11th goal of the season in stoppage time to spark memorable scenes among more than 2,300 away supporters.

“It was an unbelievable finish from Baka,” he said. “He is a really good guy and he deserved to score. I think team deserved this, the way we defended, it is the first thing we need to do. If you don’t concede you give yourself a chance to win games late like that. Hopefully it will give us a push now to keep winning.”

For Kachunga it has been a fragmented season. After missing pre-season he spent a few months getting up to top form – enjoying a purple patch of four goals in six games in November – but then a torn thigh muscle sustained in early January left him side-lined during Wanderers’ subsequent rise up the table.

He is now hoping to make an impact on the rest of the campaign.

“I’d been working really hard with the medical department and it is brilliant to be back. I have two games already in my legs and hopefully in the next weeks I’ll let some more game time.”