WANDERERS got a shot in the arm as they head into their opening League One fixture at Leyton Orient thanks to a convincing friendly win at Port Vale.

Three strikers – Aaron Collins, Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles – hit the target in a pleasing performance in the Potteries.

Wanderers put new signing Szabolcs Schön straight into action as a left wing-back, and the Hungary international – who had been playing in the Conference League on Wednesday – was a regular outlet, finding plenty of space.

The right flank wasn’t bad either, and not two minutes into the game Scott Arfield played in Josh Dacres-Cogley to chip a cross for Collins to open the scoring from less than six yards out.

Schon got himself into some good positions on the opposite side but also showed a willingness to defend, putting in one crowd pleasing challenge on Tom Sang which drew applause from the Bolton fans behind the goal.

Arfield thought he had made it two midway through the half when Collins’ far-post header dropped to him close to goal – but Vale keeper Connor Ripley somehow managed to block the shot and prevent it from sneaking over the line.

Adeboyejo did double the lead, although he made quite the meal of getting around the keeper and bundling his shot home at the second attempt. They all count, though, and nobody could seriously question that Wanderers deserved a comfortable lead as the two teams went back in at half time.

Vale had looked completely disjointed in the opening 45 minutes but they did enjoy a reasonable spell after the restart, Ben Garrity blasting one shot narrowly wide of Nathan Baxter’s goal and Ronan Curtis rolling a dangerous cross just in front of Lorent Tolaj as Darren Moore’s side searched for a way back into the game.

Wanderers gradually eased back into the ascendancy, however, as Sheehan and Thomason seized more and more possession. Dacres-Cogley and Collins got into some good positions but the quality of the final ball wasn’t quite there to manufacture a scoring chance.

The substitutions merry-go-round had just slowed when Bolton did grab a third, and one which might have been the most important of the day.

Dion Charles has had a thankless 2024 so far, a troublesome knee injury taking its toll on his availability and ultimately his sharpness at the end of last season. Bursting past Jesse Debrah and slotting past the advancing Ripley, the Northern Ireland international looked like a different player to the one that had to battle through the pain back in May.