George Thomason is determined to stay grounded despite the plaudits pouring down on him at Wanderers.

The young midfielder has earned praise from all quarters after breaking into Ian Evatt’s team for his longest run of League One football to date.

Forging an effective partnership with MJ Williams in front of the back four, Thomason has started six games in all competitions, each ending in victory.

Bolton’s lucky charm won’t allow the positive press to go to his head, however, and believes the competitive environment created by Evatt and his staff this season will keep him motivated.

“It definitely gives you that extra boost when you hear things and fans are giving you that extra spur,” he said. “But I suppose it’s the old cliché, you can’t get too high with the highs, or too low with the lows.

“I think the main thing is the confidence within myself, my team-mates and the staff day-to-day, just giving out simple messaging to one another and really pushing each other on the training pitch.

“You know you have to get the best out of yourself – but if you don’t, they are going to get the best out of it for you.”

Wanderers sit in sixth spot with a game in hand on four of the five teams above them in League One, going into Tuesday night’s game at Cheltenham Town.

There has been a noticeable reluctance within the Whites camp to speak too freely about promotion ambitions, perhaps as a reaction to last season, when the club dipped in form at this time of year to leave their much-publicised top six chase looking improbable.

Thomason has quietly gone about his business with Wanderers and believes the club should do the same.

“As any little boy, you have aspirations, you want to play in the Premier League,” he told the club. “You want to get up to the highest level you possibly can.

“When I joined the club I saw the transition phase from just as we were getting relegated from League One to the whole new build from the manager.

“Not only for myself but for the whole club it has been an upward spiral. It has just been great development.

“We’re going well at the moment but we have got to take everything in our stride, stay humble and then hopefully we can go on and take the next step.

“It is a busy month with a lot of games. You can’t be looking ahead to certain fixtures, especially when it is Saturday-Tuesday.

“You have got to get on the winning train and keep that winning train going. With so many games in such a condensed schedule you can find yourself right up the top end of the table, which is where we want to be.”