DAN Nlundulu dedicated his two goals against Manchester United’s Under-21s to former team-mate, Ben Cull, who died last week from a rare bone cancer.

The Wanderers striker scored twice in an 8-1 rout at the Toughsheet Stadium, showing a message of support on his vest after celebrating the goals.

Cull, a former Southampton academy star who played for England youth, sadly passed away at the age of 23 after battling against the disease for six years.

Nlundulu came through the ranks at St Mary’s and played 15 times for the Saints’ first team before moving to Wanderers on a full-time basis in summer.

Speaking to The Bolton News after the game, he said: “It is an emotional one. My friend, Ben Cull, who I’d played in the academy with for the last 10 years, he died of cancer last week.

“I had been wearing that shirt under my top for the last two games now and I said to myself I’d keep doing it until I got a goal, so both of them are for him.

“This has been an important day not just because I got my goals but to celebrate him as well.”

Nlundulu had not scored since making his move to Bolton permanent but was delighted to get off the mark in what was his fourth start of the campaign in all competitions.

“I have needed it,” he said. “I am delighted to get the first ones of the season and it took a lot of patience, building the confidence in the minutes I have been getting, but I knew today I had to get out there and get the goals.

“I had to show the gaffer and give him the belief that if there are injuries or if there is a loss of form then there is someone on the bench ready to come in and score.”

Nlundulu has managed just 185 minutes of football for Bolton in League One, which he says has made it more difficult to find his rhythm.

“There is expectation, fans expect, and if I am honest I feel like they lost a bit of faith in me and there was a lot of pressure to get the goals,” he said. “But I haven’t felt it, the gaffer has tried to keep my confidence high, and that is why I came here. I have said it before, he is the best manager I have ever had. I need an arm around my shoulder sometimes and he has always told me the goals will come and that he believes in me.

“You are only as good as your last game, though, so I have to keep going now.”