GEORGE Thomason was delighted to have found an “extra gear” to conquer Wanderers’ Wycombe jinx.

After their door was beaten down with 10 minutes to go at Adams Park, there were some nervous glances exchanged between Bolton fans in the away end.

Thomason and Paris Maghoma had established a solid lead but Luke Leahy’s superb finish moments after the restart triggered a relentless push for an equaliser, and Bolton finally gave way when David Wheeler pounced to score from close range.

The midfielder reckons the shock of Wycombe dragging themselves level triggered something in Bolton to raise their game again.

“It was tricky,” he said. “Being away from home can be mentally tough and when it’s 80-odd minutes and they equalise, you wonder if the momentum is going to shift their way?

“I don’t know why but something clicked and we thought: ‘We need to go again here, lads, or else we’ll sink.’ We have seen those games turn in the past and you can lose them.

“But there is massive togetherness in the group, so when Toally got the winner, then the penalty, you saw the relationship between the fans and the players is second to none.

“We are so happy to have won – we’ve never won here – so it was a bit of a bogey ground. The are a tough team to face at home and obviously it was going to be a graft and a battle, but we are pleased to come away with three points.”

Momentum in the game ebbed and flowed throughout the evening but Thomason was delighted that Wanderers found something more in the final five minutes, as Eoin Toal headed home Josh Sheehan’s corner and Aaron Morley converted a penalty won by Cameron Jerome.

“They changed a little bit in the second half and we played into their hands at times,” Thomason said.

“Obviously, away from home, when you concede two minutes into the second half, it isn’t going to help. It put us under the cosh, their fans get up and the momentum switched a bit. When that happens it is sometimes about seeing moments in games through, and we’d done that to 80 minutes. It was backs against the wall again.

“But from somewhere we found an extra gear, and extra level, something inside us, and the Toally header was brilliant. Cam and the subs made a real impact, he won the penalty and Azzer put it away.

“The boys are buzzing but we know we have another tricky away game coming and we know we have to claw more points back on the top two.”

Thomason played in a more advanced ‘number eight’ role at Wycombe and scored his first goal of the campaign after running on to a fine ball from Sheehan.

Recalling his first goal since November 2021 at Doncaster Rovers, the midfielder added: “My initial thoughts were ‘just bring this down and if I’m onside then do what comes natural’. It was almost instinctive in the end, like, a little chip over the keeper.

“I know it is something I need to add to my game, especially if I want to play a little bit higher up. We work on triggers in training and sometimes when you run in behind you don’t get the ball but when you get chances like that it is just about staying calm and focussed, and thankfully I tucked it away.

“I feel as though I have been a bit unlucky at times this year, so hopefully this can be the start of a little run for me.”