JAMES Trafford played down his vital last-minute save at Cambridge United and hailed a “team effort” to claim a point.

The Manchester City loanee came up with a smart stop from the last kick of the game, denying Harvey Knibbs from eight yards out with an important block.

But he was quick to brush off praise for his work in the game, expressing his delight at having grabbed a point with 10 men following Kyle Dempsey’s second-half dismissal.

“I thought it was a really good game, to be honest, both teams had chances. On another day we put them away but it is just part and parcel of the game,” he said.

“I made a couple of saves but it’s my job, to be honest, I’m not going to let them in. The ball is there, I save it, but the defenders made lots of blocks, the midfielders and strikers press, it is a team effort.

“The last one, the ball got flicked back in, their guy ran on and I knew I couldn’t win the ball, so I just had to block him. It came off my leg and went wide.

“Nothing can really go through your mind in that half a second. I just did it.”

But would Trafford rather make a save in the last minute, or score a last-minute winner?

“I’d probably prefer to score a goal,” he added. “I really want to score and celebrate.”

Trafford was disappointed with referee Darren Drysdale’s decision to send off Dempsey, particularly as he felt Lloyd Jones’s challenge on him in the first half could have also been punished with a red card.

“The guy was already on a yellow but the ref said he couldn’t send him off for that – but it was just a free hit,” he said. “When the ball was in the air, I can’t get out of the way because I have to catch the ball. The ref was a great guy but I think it should have been a sending off.

“I genuinely don’t know what he (Dempsey) could have done. The guy ran into him and went down.

“When you compare it to the one where the guy ran in and smashed me. I feel if he is going to give a red, he has to be consistent.”

Ian Evatt said after the final whistle that Bolton had “looked more like themselves” at the Abbey Stadium, and Trafford felt it was a positive reaction after back-to-back defeats against Oxford United and Barnsley in league and cup.

“You could say that,” he said. “I feel like we are developing as a team. We did well to hold on to the point but it isn’t like we sat in and protected a point. We created chances and anything could have happened.

“It is pleasing, we didn’t cave in. But then we know we can do that.

“Last season at Morecambe we got a point, then this season we played for much longer in hot weather and still got a point at Port Vale. It isn’t anything we don’t know.”