WANDERERS produced a stunning performance to crash seven goals past hapless Exeter City and race to the top of the League One table.
From start to finish, Bolton were on a completely different level to the visitors, and once they had nudged ahead through Jack Iredale 10 minutes before the end of the first half, they did not look back.
Victor Adeboyejo ended his two-month wait for a goal, Dion Charles scored twice in the second half between strikes from Paris Maghoma, Kyle Dempsey and Paris Maghoma.
The football, at times, was simply sensational, as Bolton recorded their biggest league home win since thrashing Swindon Town at Burnden Park in March 1997.
Wanderers made one change from their last league line-up with Iredale replacing the injured Randell Williams on the left side of defence. The returning Kyle Dempsey and Will Forrester also made the bench.
Exeter’s injury troubles were evident in their line-up, where centre back Chieck Diabate was forced to play as the lone man up front. Ricardo Santos had not had an afternoon this comfortable since testing out his new Simba mattress.
The Devon men had not won a league game since September 16 and they looked bereft of confidence in possession for most of the first half. In getting men behind the ball, they did at least frustrate Bolton for half an hour.
But for a few crosses that flashed across the penalty box from Josh Dacres-Cogley and George Thomason, the Whites had been largely contained. A few murmurs of disquiet spoke up from a relatively quiet home crowd but these days Evatt’s side look better equipped to deal with that sort of adversity.
They sparkled into life on 34 minutes on the right side of the penalty box as Gethin Jones exchanged passes with Dion Charles, leaving Exeter’s defenders stood still, and a clipped cross to the far post was headed in with delight by Iredale.
Two minutes before the break Adeboyejo doubled the lead with a tap-in that owed much to a clever corner exchange between Charles and Sheehan. Not that he minded, as it was the Nigerian’s first goal since September 23.
Wanderers have been in such a relaxed position before and allowed their concentration and performance levels to slip, not so this time.
Maghoma had been in the thick of everything Wanderers did going forward and he went close to making it three immediately after the break, denied by keeper Viljami Sinisalo at close range.
The on-loan Brentford midfielder’s disappointment was only temporary. Just a few moments later he rifled an angled shot into the roof of the net after being teed-up by Thomason.
Charles then got in on the act, finishing off a fine cross from Gethin Jones from close range. And in the week where he had tormented Barcelona centre-half Andreas Christiansen whilst on international duty with Northern Ireland, he wasn’t finished there.
With his last action before being replaced, the striker took his tally to 13 for the season with another razor-sharp finish after Sinisalo had blocked Adeboyejo’s initial effort.
Evatt had the luxury of resting a few players for Tuesday night’s trip to Oxford but Wanderers refused to let up and could have stretched their lead further.
Dempsey had an action-packed 20 minutes, and after curling one shot wide, having another deflect just over the crossbar and nearly creating one for Eoin Toal, he grabbed his first goal of the season as he pounced on a flick from Dan Nlundulu.
A total of 19 different players have now scored for Wanderers this season – virtually the whole fit outfield roster – and when six minutes flashed up on the fourth official’s board, the home fans joined in unison: “We want seven!”
Within a few seconds, Nlundulu obliged, another Dempsey involvement from the right, punished with aplomb for the striker’s first league goal of the campaign.
The crowd called for eight, and had there been a few more minutes to add, the players would surely have obliged. It is hard to recall a more one-sided league fixture ever to be played at this ground.
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