STUART Holden knew he was in for a busy night on Saturday after scoring his first goal in English football for Wanderers.

The tech-savvy US international was besieged with messages of congratulations from both sides of the Atlantic after helping his side to a 3-2 victory at Molineux.

Twitter-fanatic Holden spent the evening sifting through texts and tweets – but admitted that he wondered whether his first goal for the club would ever arrive, having had some wretched luck in front of goal this season.

“It’s been a while coming,” he said. “But it’s part of my job to get involved in both boxes and it’s a great feeling to get off the mark – and an even better feeling to help us to an important win.

“I put pressure on myself to score because I love being up there. I said to Matty in the first half, ‘I just wish one would fall for me’. Thankfully, it did in the second half.

“Goals aren’t the most important thing, and if we’d won 2-0 and I hadn’t scored, then I would have been just as happy. But it’s great to get off the mark and it’s testament to how we’ve been playing.”

Victory at Wolves lifted Wanderers into fifth and the manner of the second half performance in particular had the football purists purring.

Being on the right side of the style police has been a rare thing in recent years for the Whites but Holden believes the plaudits are warranted.

“Bolton is a good place to be right now – we’re in the top six and playing some great football,” he said. “Many people will be surprised to see us up there in the table, but the manager has instilled in us the belief that we can go on the road and win games like this.

“As a club, we have not always been associated with total football, and we don’t play it for 90 minutes at a stretch like Arsenal or Manchester United, but we try to express ourselves when we can and we have the talent to do it.

“We can’t afford to get too far ahead of ourselves and start talking about the Champions League, but this club has been in Europe before and if we can pick up points in our next couple of games against Newcastle and Blackpool at the Reebok, then we should find ourselves in a good place.”

The highlight of the afternoon was an outstanding finish by Johan Elmander for Wanderers’ second of the afternoon – a goal Holden believes will be talked about for some years to come at the Reebok.

“It was a great goal from start to finish and Johan’s goal was special – we see that kind of footwork from him every day in training and I’m sure you’ll see it replayed many times,” he said.

“I hope Johan’s goal will get the credit it deserves – he’s been unbelievable for us this season, and any player in the world would have been proud to score one as good as that.”