LIKE many landmark events of its kind, White Hot came about through a combination of spontaneity and expertise.

Every Bolton player was a hero in his own right on that memorable night at Anfield in January, 1993, but three in particular stole the show – goalscorers John McGinlay and Andy Walker, and David Lee, who tormented the Liverpool defence.

They were the players at the centre of the post-match revelry as 8,500 Wanderers supporters saluted their team’s FA Cup triumph over the holders.

Every newspaper – especially the Bolton Evening News – wanted pictures of the celebrations that captured the emotion of the occasion.

The problem was getting the right pose.

And, just as Bruce Rioch’s players had shown the importance of teamwork in that memorable 90 minutes, the BEN’s duo of Richard Rollon and Paul Heyes came up with a superbly-timed one-two to snap the winning image.

“As the players were coming off the pitch, I ran on to make sure I at least got the two goalscorers – McGinlay and Walker – but David Lee was already with them so I quickly grabbed the three of them and started to arrange the picture,” said Rollon, the former BEN picture editor.

“When I was happy I stepped back to take the picture and there, behind me, was a crowd of photographers lining up the shot I had set up.

“Thankfully, Paul was one of them and he got the picture we wanted and got all the credit for it, rightly so because it was a great picture.

“But it was all about teamwork. We worked as a team when we covered matches together – and it worked perfectly that night.

“The players were brilliant too. We wanted the three of them together and they wanted to revel in the occasion.”

The BEN men had no idea at the time, however, that the hastily snapped picture would become such an iconic image “It captured the moment and summed up what Bolton Wanderers was all about at that time – the first of those famous FA Cup giantkillings and the start of a success story,” Rollon recalls. “When Wanderers won replays at Everton and Arsenal the following season we did White Hot 2 and White Hot 3 – and the players loved it.

“It became the thing to do.

“But we didn’t realise that first picture would still be talked about 20 years later. I’m sure it’s adorned many a Wanderers’ fan’s wall because it really has become an iconic image.”

l Buy your special signed anniversary White Hot poster, available for £5.99, from The Bolton News reception or by visiting theboltonnews.co.uk/wanderers/whitehot.