PHIL Parkinson praised his Wanderers for “digging in” at Oxford United to claim more promotion points.

The Whites emerged from a topsy-tuvy game at the Kassam Stadium with a precious 4-2 victory to put clear daylight between themselves and third-placed Fleetwood Town.

Filipe Morais and Mark Beevers scored early on but Michael Appleton’s Us continued to haul themselves back into the game – first through Kane Hemmings and then again through Chris Maguire after a Chey Dunkley own goal had extended Bolton’s lead to 3-1.

It was not until Josh Vela waltzed through to middle to score his 10th goal of the season that the points were truly safe.

It had been a physical taxing encounter in which Adam Le Fondre had to leave the field with blurred vision, Darren Pratley with a tight hamstring and both Jay Spearing and Mark Beevers also picking up knocks which will be assessed today.

But Parkinson was proud with the resilience his team showed against an Oxford side who also have designs on the play-offs.

“Even though we got four it was a different type of quality we had to show because of Alfie going off and Darren’s hamstring tightening up,” he told The Bolton News. “We knew we had players like Jay and Dorian who are just coming back and haven’t played back-to-back games like this for a long while.

“We had to show a lot of resilience but I always thought we carried a big threat down the left with Longy and even though they had plenty of possession in the middle of the pitch I think we looked like the most likely side to score.”

Wanderers should have been home and hosed after racing into the early lead and Parkinson admits he had to dish out a few warnings at half time.

“We took our foot off the gas after going into the lead and almost felt it was all going to take care of itself again,” he said.

“But Oxford are a better side than Gillingham. My only criticism of the lads at half time was that they felt it was going to be easy.”

Wanderers go to relegation-threatened Shrewsbury Town on Saturday with Parkinson considering changes after a draining week.

“We can’t sit back and pat ourselves on the back – we have to go at the weekend,” he said.

“Three lads came down to Oxford but didn’t even get changed. I said to them it might well be their turn on Saturday.

“We have got a few niggles now but you cannot fault the spirit of this group of players. They dug in, that’s the best way I can describe it.”