Ian Evatt reckons Wanderers got their just rewards by bringing three points home from Lincoln City. 

Eoin Toal brought the house down for the second season in a row in the away end at Sincil Bank with a late header to earn a priceless win which puts Bolton back on the shoulder of second-placed Peterborough United in the automatic promotion spots. 

Wanderers had dominated the game even before Danny Mandriou was sent off with 22 minutes left – after which they finally managed to force home their advantage. 

“I thought we played so well, dominated from start to finish,” Evatt eulogised. “It was really difficult against a compact side with a deep block on a pretty tight pitch. 

“Some of our passing detail was great. We had moments that we didn’t take but we kept the belief, kept knocking on the door, but again we saw the value of set plays. 

“It would have been easy to throw the ball in at that point but against 10 men it is easier when you utilise the short (corner) and the edge of the box and we did that, space opened up and Toally put it away. 

“I wish we could bottle that feeling – because what a feeling it was in front of that away end. 

“The most important thing was the way we played.” 

Wanderers put 21 shots on the Lincoln goal, only four of which hit the target, but Evatt was impressed by the way his side stuck to task even when fortune did not appear to be in their favour. 

“It was almost a case of what we used to talk about – we’ll get you eventually,” he said. 

“When you have the ball for so long and attack wave after wave, our lock out was great, they didn’t have very much through the whole game and Nathan (Baxter) had maybe one or two saves from distance all day. It was relentless and we got what we deserved.” 

Leaders Portsmouth lost at Bristol Rovers and Peterborough dropped points at home to Reading, which made the win at Lincoln all the sweeter Wanderers fans on Boxing Day. 

Evatt urged focus from his players, however, with two bruising games against Fleetwood and Burton Albion to come in the next six days. 

Carlos Mendes Gomes has travelled to link-up with Guinea Bissau for the African Cup of Nations and Gethin Jones will also leave to play for Australia at the Asian Cup after Friday night. 

Evatt has confidence that his squad can handle the demands and reproduce more performances of the quality they showed at Lincoln. 

“Everyone at the start of the season talked about the strength of the league but when you look at the pace the top five or six are setting now, it is quite incredible. Large quantities of points are being stacked up and we are not even halfway through the season yet, there is still a lot more football to play,” he said. 

“There is no talk of this and that, no looking too far ahead. It is boring but we only look at the next game because that is the way it has to be. 

“Obviously we have a couple of lads going away now and Carlos has left us already, Gethin will leave after the next fixture, and the window is coming up. 

“We will focus on another really tough game at Fleetwood on Friday night and go again.”