LEWIS Grabban used to clean Dougie Freedman’s boots – but his first-half goal at the Reebok provided his old mentor with a kick in the pants on Saturday.

Bournemouth’s impressive lone front man struck a superb 25-yard effort to get his side back into the game and set the Wanderers nerves jangling.

What damage that may have caused to Freedman’s long-term future at Wanderers remains to be seen, but the 26-year-old former Palace trainee was thankful for the impact the Bolton boss had on his own career.

“He’s had a really positive impact on my career,” he grinned. “I don’t think he’s scored many like that but I was really happy with it.

“I played with him when I was at Palace when I was a schoolboy. I was his boot boy and he was great for my career.

“He was always giving me advice and was able to learn a lot from him.”

Grabban ended up feel slightly perturbed that the Cherries only left the Reebok with a point after dominating the last hour of the game.

“We’re disappointed to be honest because for long spells we were the better team,” he said. “We started off sloppy and we gave them the advantage but after the two goals we played much better and we started playing like we can do.

“We have a great spirit in the dressing room. We never give up and we were determined to come away with a result so confidence is higher now.”