Dapo Afolayan has rarely found himself standing outside the spotlight’s glare since signing for Wanderers.

Last season’s player of the year and top scorer was the name on everyone’s lips as we entered into the summer, many fans believing the club would do well to keep hold of him should one of the many reported suitors made a bid.

But Afolayan remained, even carving out a new niche for himself as a central striker during pre-season. Not many would have predicted that six weeks into the season, the former West Ham man would have been benched for as many games as he started.

It was as a substitute that Afolayan affected Saturday’s match against Peterborough United, picking up a loose ball in midfield, driving forward and hitting a deflected shot for his first league goal of the campaign.

Fortuitous, perhaps, but Ian Evatt argues he deserved a bit of luck for the attitude he has shown whilst out of the side.

“Absolutely he does. He’s had a frustrating time,” the manager observed.

“He has been out of the team, but what I will say is he’s trained superbly, his professionalism and the way he’s conducted himself has been excellent and I have been really pleased. He deserved that goal, and I’ve told him that.”

Evatt was a contented man on Saturday evening, having watched his side better one of the promotion favourites with a mix of expansive football and good old-fashioned grit.

Tactically, the Bolton boss was also delighted with the way his players tweaked their normal approach.

“I think the work we did to prepare the players was excellent because we recognised that they almost go man for man and really press high,” he said. “The space was then with the strikers and we needed to play a little bit more direct.

“Once we found those and got to grips with their two centre forwards I thought we excellent in keeping the ball up there, linking play and once we got to that stage, I think it just looked like all us really and we were the team to go on and win it and to score goals.

“We had them penned in and they’re a dangerous team. They counter-attack really well. Jonson Clarke-Harris is an outstanding player for this level but I thought we dealt with that really well and our concentration was excellent.

“It was another real step forward for us in our learning early in the season.”