RATHER like a cheap horror film, Neil Lennon is expecting a sting in the tail these days.

Wanderers should have been out of sight at Hillsborough when the fourth official put up the board for six more minutes of stoppage time, to incredulous looks from the Bolton dugout.

Wednesday keeper Keiren Westwood had made four big saves for his side to keep them within touching distance.

But having already been denied a perfectly good goal and been reduced to 10 men, the Owls had injustice coursing through their veins as they poured forward in the latter stages.

Just as Wanderers thought it was safe to step back down the tunnel, Claude Dielna came up with a thunderbolt from the edge of the box, which forced Andy Lonergan into a stunning full-length save.

Lennon turned back towards his first-team coach Garry Parker, grinning, but shaking his head at what might have been.

“This is what I have learned about this league,” he said in a more relaxed press room after the final whistle. “At Celtic you’d dominate most games and be in control but in the Championship it’s a very, very even spread.

“There are times when you’ll be under pressure and sometimes when you’ll need your goalkeeper – particularly away from home.

“The effort the players are putting in, not for me, but for the club, is fantastic.

“I don't really know where the referee got six minutes from and Liam Feeney got taken out in the build up. How the referee didn't give it, I don't know.

“But Andy made another terrific save and it is becoming his forte. He has been a huge part in what we are doing."

Indeed it was the lack of killer instinct shown by Wanderers in the early stages of the second half which set up the dramatic finale.

Craig Davies had a couple of excellent chances, while Westwood denied Josh Vela, Liam Feeney and Matt Mills in successive attacks.

"We should have been 4-0 up,” Lennon said. “When Craig missed that header I was running back up the touchline because it looked harder to miss.

“The football we played in the first half was outstanding, we scored two magnificent goals and controlled the game.

“But we let Wednesday back in. If we had seen that period out for five or 10 minutes we would have gone on and won the game very well. There is no question in my mind we deserved it in the end, though.”

With the rain, sleet, hail and snow pouring down and making the pitch into a real mud-bath, there was a throwback quality about this game that made it immensely watchable.

“I asked them to be mentally strong for me and they did that,” Lennon said. “It’s a great win in the context of the run we’re on – now we’re looking at it as one defeat in 11 in the league – so we’re in a good place at the moment.”