WANDERERS’ automatic promotion chances were dealt a severe blow after former transfer target Kane Wilson’s header settled a fiercely contested clash at Derby County.

The wing-back headed home from Callum Elder’s corner in the 78th minute to give his side a four-point gap on Bolton with seven games remaining.

Bolton have not won a league game in Derby since 1981 – but had threatened to break that duck by creating the best opportunities, at least until Kane’s decisive goal.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and George Thomason brought two big saves out of Joe Wildsmith, and Wanderers will feel they had control of the game up until the point Wilson’s header hit the back of the net.

What permanent damage that has done remains to be seen but with Portsmouth also winning at Peterborough the automatic spots now look further away than ever.

For just the fourth time in the league this season Bolton named an unchanged starting 11, the only alteration coming on the bench where young keeper Luke Hutchinson was drafted in as an acknowledgement of the importance of the fixture.

There was no missing that inside the stadium, where Derby welcomed their biggest home gate since the 2016/17 season and the atmosphere crackled with expectancy, each side knowing a win could set them up for an automatic promotion push.

Evatt had warned of a fast start, and for the opening 10 minutes the Rams rattled into crowd-pleasing challenges and looked to thrive on the hectic pace of the game. Having ridden that initial turbulence, however, the rest of the half turned out to be surprisingly comfortable.

Wanderers certainly had the outstanding chance of the opening 45 minutes, Nat Ogbeta crossing inch-perfectly for Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, whose contact on the header was true but keeper Wildsmith managed to stick out a hand to push the ball to safety. Had the Icelander made less of a connection, it would probably have found a way into the net.

Derby’s best periods centred around the set pieces. Curtis Nelson headed one good chance over the top and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing nudged another near-post effort wide after Tom Barkhuizen got space on the right wing, but otherwise Bolton looked solid, Joel Coleman relatively untested.

The home side also lost striker Dwight Gayle to injury midway through the half. The former Newcastle United man had scored three times in his last three games and if you were of a Bolton persuasion, his withdrawal certainly felt like a bonus.

The Whites got into some good positions out wide but, Ogbeta’s cross for Bodvarsson aside, the service was inconsistent.

Thomason headed Josh Sheehan’s free kick on to the roof of the net and the Welshman helped to keep pressure on whenever Wanderers opted to play through him.

Fellow midfielders Thomason and Paris Maghoma had spells where they rose to the fore, too, but neither was able to get a shot on goal when a flicker of opportunity presented itself.

Paul Warne made a triple substitution at the break, hinting that he was not entirely happy with how things were going. Bolton continued to ask more questions, though, and Wildsmith was called into action again to push away a bobbling shot from Sheehan shortly after the second half began.

Derby’s brutal brand meant Bolton had little time to craft their attacks, in the way they had against Oxford in midweek. Once again, Sheehan bore the brunt, but Evatt’s men could ill-afford to be drawn into a fight, they needed to keep it a football match.

When Wanderers did get their passing game going, especially through Sheehan, they got encouragement.

Jones and Sheehan combined well from a throw on the right to slip Thomason through on the hour but once again he found Wildsmith at his best.

From the corner a clearance dropped to Jones for a half-chance, his volley helped on and dropping just wide of the post.

Another corner from Ogbeta clipped the bar and Derby’s responses became less frequent – a blocked volley as near as they got for the opening half an hour of the second half.

And then the moment Evatt would have been dreading. A corner won, Callum Elder swung the ball in from the right and substitute Kane Wilson – whose move to Bolton in the summer broke down as a result of a medical – was there to head home.

Seventy-eight minutes of Wanderers’ hard work had been undone in a few seconds. And though there was plenty of time left on the clock to muster an equaliser, as Evatt’s side have managed on more than one occasion of late, the home atmosphere ramped up to give their side a second wind, one that had seemed unlikely just a few moments earlier.

Derby gave very little encouragement and as the fourth official indicated seven minutes of added time, it was difficult see where a Bolton opportunity was going to come from.

Roles reversed, it was they who peppered the penalty box with long throws and free kicks in the latter stages, hoping that something would drop. But the chance never came, and promotion is now Derby’s to lose.