He might have been schooled in the academy bubble at Liverpool and sculpted by the Dutch masters at Feyenoord but there is something unashamedly old school about George Johnston.

In front of the tape recorders, a well-spoken and thoughtful lad, but on the training ground a character described lovingly by Ian Evatt as a “bit of a weirdo,” the 24-year-old has quietly progressed in a season-and-a-half at Bolton to become a real mainstay of the side.

Johnston has played more minutes than any other outfield player for Bolton in 2022, becoming an integral part of a back three asked to link-up in possession with the midfield and never waste the ball.

Yet there are moments when a wry grin passes momentarily on the young defender’s face, and usually after a robust challenge that harks back to the days of Tommy Banks and Roy Hartle depositing some unsuspecting winger on to the cinder track at Burnden Park.

That was certainly the case when the whole of the East Stand applauded a well-timed tackle on Derby County’s Jason Knight midway through the first half in Tuesday’s goalless draw.

“I knew that lad was quick so my first thought was to stop him getting in behind,” Johnston told The Bolton News. “The opportunity was there to win the ball and if I could reduce him there and then, it’s the best thing.

“I’m happy to put my body on the line, as a defender it is what you should be doing.

“Challenges like that, blocking shots, I enjoy it, it is my bread and butter. Doing that is like scoring a goal sometimes, you get a satisfaction out of it.”

Evatt, a central defender in his playing days, picked out the challenge on Knight as one of his highlights.

“George understands the timing of the tackle," he said. "Usually, if you can avoid going to ground then it is better and the way he waited for the situation to evolve and picked his moment was a fantastic bit of defending and you don’t see that very often.

“He is a very good character, strange character, a bit of a weirdo, in fact. But he is a loveable rogue and we all love him to bits.

“He is a leader and demands the best. He wants to win and his one-to-one defending is excellent, there has never been an issue with that."

The absence of Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones through illness and injury has been felt far less than expected, thanks to the good recent form of Johnston and their two replacements in the back three, Eoin Toal and Will Aimson.

Successive clean sheets against Manchester United’s kids in the Papa Johns Trophy and then Derby and Exeter in League One have provided a solid start for what looks like a key run of fixtures into the middle of next month.

“When Gethin and Rico went out I was the one who had played the most, so it was up to me to step up and do something,” Johnston said of his changing role.

“Eoin and Will have been excellent, they have slotted in perfectly. I mean, Will is an experienced player and he is someone you would want next to you in the trenches, and Eoin has done himself no harm at all has he? He has looked really good since he came into the team.

“With the ball he was great against Derby. Their press was quite aggressive but he dealt with it, offered problems for them going forward in the same was as Geth does, so it was like for like.

“But I have just got my head down and tried to do my job. It has gone OK so far.”

Johnston was momentarily handed the captaincy after Kieran Lee’s substitution on Tuesday night, a role he filled for most of his time coming through the ranks at Liverpool.

“I grew up in the youth academy and was captain quite a lot, then got it when I went into the Under-23s under Neil Critchley, who is at QPR now, so it isn’t foreign to me,” he said.

“Obviously it is a little different when there are 25,000 fans in, you have to adapt to it, but it was a nice moment.”

Whether Wanderers will rue their inability to beat Derby on home turf, only time will tell, but they can take a forward step by becoming the first team to beat Lincoln on home turf since April.

Capitalising more often on what Evatt terms the “big moments” would appear to be the next step in the evolution of this team but Johnston hopes the defensive stability which has been evident throughout this season can continue.

“We need to put the ball in the back of the net, don’t we? Derby were well structured, experienced, you know you are not going to get too many chances against them.

“The defence has to stay as resolute as it has been for the last couple of games but maybe we need to look at finding a few more solutions on how to create the chances and get a goal on the board, because once we get ourselves ahead we can be hard to stop.

“One goal for either side would have won the game (against Derby). It was two competitive sides going at it and, unfortunately, we couldn’t find it.

“If Derby had scored they could have dropped back and made it very difficult, likewise we’d have done the same. That is how finely poised the game was, and it happens a lot in the big matches, you know that one mistake can make the difference.

“We can see how competitive it is around us. No disrespect to the teams below but they represent a completely different type of challenge. If we want to get to where we want to be, Derby is the type of team we have to beat, they are the type of team we’ll come up against at the end of the season if it comes down to the play-offs.

“Two big games coming up now but I think we take confidence from the Derby game, a big team we have pushed all the way and, for me, we were the ones who looked like winning it at the end and had the better chances.

“Lincoln away is a tough place to go but we feel we can go there and get three points.

“Barnsley we know well, we have played them twice already this season and not managed to beat them so I feel like we owe them one.”