NEIL Lennon was looking for some divine inspiration as Wanderers stared defeat in the face against Nottingham Forest.

David Vaughan’s sublime 81st minute strike appeared to have sealed the points – but the manager’s prayers were answered by Stephen Dobbie, who stepped off the bench to score with virtually his first touch.

Pressure relieved, the Whites can now head into Friday’s derby against Blackburn Rovers with a completely different mindset.

But Lennon admits he feared the worst as the last minutes of the game ticked by.

“With a few minutes to go, you can’t do anything but just hope they keep going,” he told The Bolton News. “I was just thinking ‘come on God, what have I done?’

“We were due a little bit of luck at some point because we’ve had absolutely none so far.

“Their goal was a worldie – maybe we could have closed him down a little faster but it’s gone like a rocket into the top corner. We had chances to do that and we didn’t.

“We just needed to keep believing. The attitude, the athleticism, the pace of the play is good but we needed that little breakthrough and we got it.”

Wanderers were nearly the architects of their own downfall, having missed a penalty and wasted a handful of excellent scoring opportunities.

Dobbie’s strike ended a near 11-hour wait for a goal in a competitive game, a club record, and changed the mood around the Macron entirely.

“That’s a monkey off our back in terms of goals – but we do miss some decent chances,” said Lennon, weighing up the good and the bad.

“There were a couple of free headers first half and we flashed a couple wide in the second half and Gary Madine has missed a penalty, so it could easily have been three.

“You are always thinking ‘it’ll come, it’ll come, the goals will come’ but you always need that foundation and I’m happy to say that we’re defending really well at the moment. The two boys in midfield had good games.”

Lennon was pleased with the debut of on-loan Arsenal winger Wellington Silva, despite the 22-year-old making an early exit with cramp.

“I think he made a real difference to us,” he said. “He was quick, he was lively, he wanted the ball and once we’d got him into the game after about 20 minutes he worked some great openings.

“We had some great chances looking back; Zach’s would have been a great goal, Dannsy slashed one wide and Dorian did as well. They are having a go – it’s just that little bit of composure and luck.”