WANDERERS jumped back into the automatic promotion spots in League One after a dramatic 2-1 win against rivals Derby County.

Conor Hourihane and Dion Charles swapped penalties in the first half but when referee Charles Breakspear showed Rams keeper Joe Wildsmith a straight red three minutes after the restart for handball outside his area, the Whites had a golden chance to take advantage.

Josh Dacres-Cogley’s deflected cross proved the winner – giving Bolton their fourth league win of the campaign and putting them second in the table on goal difference.

Wanderers made two changes to the starting line-up, bringing Eoin Toal and Josh Sheehan for Paris Maghoma and Jack Iredale, who picked up a knock in midweek against Middlesbrough.

Ricardo Santos shook off an ankle problem to take his place at the centre of defence, tasked with marshalling the division’s top scorer in Martyn Waghorn.

Much like the first half against Middlesbrough in midweek, the Whites’ first-half football was extremely bright – and George Thomason forced Wildsmith into a fine save after just five minutes.

The Rams keeper then denied Kyle Dempsey at his near post following a Josh Sheehan corner but needed the woodwork to come to his rescue 26 minutes in after Josh Dacres-Cogley’s scooped shot skimmed the bar.

Derby began to show signs of life just as they went ahead. A big penalty shout went up for handball seconds before referee Charles Breakspear finally did point to the spot for a push by Victor Adeboyejo on Callum Elder. It didn’t help that Conor Washington had also put the ball into the net, leaving both sides wondering which way the decision had gone.

Hourihane kept his nerve to send Baxter the wrong way to open the scoring but Bolton’s response was admirable and less than nine minutes later they were level.

Sheehan had enjoyed a tidy first half and he won a penalty after racing on to a cut back cross from the right and drawing a foul from Korey Smith, who had tried unsuccessfully to track his every move.

Charles did the rest, rolling his fifth goal of the season into the bottom corner to level the scores.

Toal came within inches of heading a second during first half stoppage time and Bolton maintained that forward momentum in the second half, forcing an error from sub Sonny Bradley to leave Adeboyejo challenging keeper Wildsmith on the edge of his own box.

The ball bounced out to Charles, who tried to volley towards goal, and Wildsmith used his hands to push the shot away. Referee Breakspear consulted his official and deemed it a red card offence.

Derby’s instinct was to try and protect the point. Bolton suddenly had a very familiar blockade to negotiate on home turf.

To the chorus of “shoot” for each and every touch around the penalty box, Evatt’s side slowly and carefully tried to pick their way through.

Tension levels rose as the passing became more and more intricate – Adeboyejo seeing one shot blocked right in front of goal, Sheehan, Santos, Thomason, Dacres-Cogley all passing up chances to test the replacement keeper Josh Vickers.

But in the end it took a deflected cross, Dacres-Cogley’s effort looping off Fornah and nestling into the far corner.

Once again you could ask whether Bolton should have turned the screw, made the game safe.

Williams’ off-balance shot nearly caught Vickers out at one point but the Whites did not manufacture anything in the last 20 minutes that reflected their numerical advantage.

Derby had set pieces and long throws to fall back on and did cause a few ripples of panic in the final stages.

But in a week where questions have been asked of Wanderers left, right and centre, an answer was supplied. Bolton are joint-top of the league with Exeter having taken 13 points from their first six games, of that there can be no argument.