IAN Evatt has thanked the Wanderers fans for their backing in Saturday’s must-win game against Reading.

The Bolton boss led his players around the pitch to applaud the supporters after the final whistle and was visibly moved by the reaction he got.

Evatt had been under intense pressure to turn around a slow start to the season and revealed that his twin children had even been targeted in the lead-up to the game.

Many stayed behind to show their support after the 5-2 win, which lifts the Whites to 18th in the table after six games.

“It made me emotional because I care deeply about everything associated with this club,” he said after the final whistle.

“It has been really hard, really, really difficult for me, personally. My 12-year-old children have received things that they shouldn’t have received and that is very upsetting for me. It is part of the industry we are in and I have to cope with it and be strong enough to lead.

“I have tried to do that this week. We had a discussion on Thursday about not losing everybody and it was clear to see there that we haven’t, there was a togetherness and it meant the absolute world to me. It humbled me, made me very emotional, so thank you to them.”

Evatt opted to return to a 3-5-2 formation he used throughout last season, bringing together forwards Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo for the first time since February.

The pair have enjoyed an excellent record when starting together, winning 19, drawing eight and losing six of 33 games as a pair.

Charles scored a first-half hat-trick to take his tally to five for the season in all competitions.

“We have some brilliant forward players, Aaron Collins and John McAtee came on and helped us and they are going to be huge for us, moving forwards,” Evatt said.

“I just felt that this was a game where we were going back to what we know. Those (Charles and Adeboyejo) two know each other so well, they have had a lot of success together.

“People forget that in the second half of last season very rarely did we have them fit together. When they are fit, they are a handful and difficult to play against.”