WANDERERS held firm to claim three points against Burton Albion and lift themselves into the top half of the table.

Missing the injured Nathan Baxter, George Thomason and Eoin Toal, Ian Evatt had to reshape his side, who after a pleasing start struggled to get their best football going for much of the afternoon.

The manager, suspended for three games for his red card against Shrewsbury, watched from the TV gantry as his side missed several presentable chances before finally getting themselves ahead through Aaron Collins.

Randell Williams doubled the lead two minutes later but Burton got themselves back into the contest through Danilo Orsi, meaning the result stayed within some doubt to the very end.

Wanderers will feel they should have held a comfortable lead by the half-hour mark, as they passed up a number of decent opportunities in the early stages.

Kyle Dempsey fired a low shot that nearly dropped for Dion Charles, Williams had a shot blocked well by Ryan Sweeney and Harry Isted also denied Josh Sheehan in a frantic opening.

Collins did have a goal ruled out for offside, but Bolton continued to threaten and Szabi Schon had two good efforts blocked by Burton defender Sweeney as the Hungarian repeatedly got through on the left.

Dempsey hooked another effort from close range over the bar as the domination continued but then on 33 minutes, just as Burton had touched the ball for the first time in the Wanderers box, the Brewers should have gone ahead.

Danilo Orsi’s clipped cross fell at the feet of Tomas Kalinauskas, who somehow failed to nudge it over the line from point blank range. The follow up from Mason Bennett was then blocked by Luke Southwood and a huge chance had gone begging.

The pace of the game dropped completely and it was with a rather frustrated expression that Evatt paced down the gantry steps at half time on his way back to the dressing room.

After a jittery five minutes at the start of the second half, Bolton started to get themselves going again. McAtee had a stinging shot pushed around the post by Isted, then had another effort charged down by the ever-reliable Sweeney.

Frustration was starting to show but was finally lifted when Williams’s speculative throw prompted Isted to rush off his line, but Collins managed to nick the ball around him, then compose himself to place the ball past the covering defender on the line.

Almost straight away Bolton fans were celebrating a second. This time Dempsey found Williams on the right, his powerful shot beating Isted and seemingly making the game safe.

Burton had other ideas, however, and got themselves back into it in the most scrappy manner imaginable, Dacres-Cogley’s attempted clearance cannoning off Orsi into the net.

To Bolton’s credit, they remained solid thereafter. Burton had one brief chance for sub Nick Akoto which was dragged wide from the edge of the box but the chances of the a comeback looked minimal.

Brewers old boy Vic Adeboyejo nearly sealed the win a few minutes before the end but his close range effort was again blocked.