D-DAY arrived as we put on our lucky shirts, socks and anything else that might bring us good fortune on this critical day.

No need for the Doombar deliberations as we all knew what we had to do. Which is just as well as the Doombar ran out.

The first part was a win and then hope Preston North End and Derby County could take something off Burton Albion and Barnsley respectively. Nervous doesn’t begin to describe how most fans felt but we were up for it. We’d give it our all and hope the lads would as well.

The team news from Phil Parkinson was greeted with surprise, especially the inclusion of Aaron Wilbraham, but I wasn’t bothered. If they wore the white shirt today, Bolton expected every man to do his duty.

One eye on the match and one eye on our mobiles for the scores from elsewhere, we witnessed a crazy first half.

We hit the post, clearances off the line and one disallowed for offside, while Forest could have buried us if they hadn’t missed four clearcut chances. At half time, Preston and Derby were doing their stuff but we still needed a goal. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Adam Le Fondre. It was pandemonium when he smashed the first in.

The joy lasted less than three minutes until they equalised.

Feelings of despair and disbelief overcame us when Forest went ahead. All our hard work was going to count for nothing.

Derby were trouncing Barnsley but Preston were being held by survival experts Burton and down to 10 men.

But when the chips are down, you need heroes and up popped David Wheater to smash the equaliser in with three minutes to go.

We still needed another goal and when Wilbraham headed the winner, you can imagine the scenes of utter joy and relief.

The referee must have been enjoying it so much, he added five minutes for us to endure.

But in the end, we did it. We are staying up!

We achieved our target of finishing 21st. We did it the hard way but do Bolton Wanderers ever do anything the easy way?

There’s a tear in my eyes. We came good in the end, consolidating last season’s achievements.

Let’s see what happens over the summer.