Bolton Wanderers secured a ninth placed finish in League One with a win at home over Fleetwood Town.
Wanderers went behind thanks to a brilliant finish from Barry Baggley, but the hosts struck back before half-time thanks to Charles ending a goalscoring drought which run until mid-February with a low strike.
Declan John then put the hosts in front with a great low finish after the break, before Joe Garner levelled from a corner to put the Cod Army back on level terms.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Fleetwood Town - Charles, John, Morley & Bakayoko good
Charles scored from 45 yards with a slide tackle which ended up lofting over goalkeeper Alex Cairns and into the back of the net to give Wanderers the lead again.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson then scored with the final kick of the game as they secured a ninth placed finish with a 4-2 victory after Portsmouth suffered defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday, while the Cod Army secured their League One status despite losing at the University of Bolton Stadium.
Here, we analyse the victory for Wanderers from the last game of the season with the positives and negatives from a Bolton perspective.
Ups
Charles back among the goals
Charles had not scored since mid-February after a bright start which led to six goals in his first 10 League One games for the club.
A lull in his form in front of goal in recent weeks came to an end in style with a crucial first goal which got Wanderers back on level terms against the Cod Army in the first half.
And after the break, the typical tenacious style which Charles brings to Bolton's front line was rewarded as his slide tackle on Camps ended with an extraordinary goal and was his eighth since his January move from Accrington Stanley.
The striker found his goalscoring touch once again and will be a big player for Wanderers next season as he leads the line as the Whites aim to compete at the business end of the table.
Forwards all firing
Charles is far from the only goal threat in this Wanderers side, with Dapo Afolayan and Amadou Bakayoko being the club's two highest scorers this season with 14 and 13 strikes respectively.
Charles himself has eight goals while Jon Dadi Bodvarsson will be another huge asset in the final third for Bolton next season and has seven strikes to his name so far, with Elias Kachunga scoring four in an injury-disrupted campaign, with Kieran Sadlier reaching that tally too for his new club.
It's a promising sight indeed that all those in forward areas at Wanderers that all are more than capable of finding the back of the net in League One and will be huge next season
Eight unbeaten and positive second half of campaign
Since January 15 and beating Ispwich Town 2-0, no side took more points than Wanderers did with 47 accrued in an impressive second half of the season.
That included eight games unbeaten at the end of the campaign and four wins on the bounce in their last quartet of fixtures.
The January transfer window, like it did in the 2020/21 season, helped to turn Wanderers' campaign around and the 22 games from the middle of that month has seen just three defeats in hugely impressive form to end this term on a high.
Momentum builds for 2022/23
With form such as that, it can be hoped that this momentum is retained over the summer and carries on into next season.
Wanderers have some busy times in the coming weeks as Ian Evatt strengthens his squad, which is still needed to compete at the top end of League One and build upon their January recruitment efforts.
That will come and Evatt hopes to have the bulk of his recruitment done by the time Wanderers return for pre-season in the middle of June and fly out to Portugal for a training camp.
But if they can replicate their efforts of previous transfer windows, there is every chance that momentum can be carried over.
Young midfield duo passes test
It was expected that Kyle Dempsey would slot into central midfield and start alongside Aaron Morley in the absence of the injured MJ Williams, who has a broken hand.
So it was a surprise to not see Dempsey's name in the Wanderers squad when the team was announced at 11.30am and George Thomason was handed a start.
Morley and Thomason formed a young central midfield pairing of 22 and 20 respectively, while the latter has been limited to only nine starts this season owing to the massive competition in that area of the pitch.
But the duo performed well in the middle of the park and ensures there is plenty of strength in depth in that area of the pitch in arguably one of, if not the, most well stocked area of the pitch for Wanderers.
Downs
Set piece goal conceded as clear summer aim sought
The final goal Wanderers conceded in League One this season proved to be from a set piece, which has been one of the Achilles heels for Bolton this campaign.
Danny Andrew's corner was eventually put over the line in a scrappy fashion by Garner as Wanderers failed to deal with the delivery.
It was far from the first time but proved to be the last time Wanderers conceded in this fashion this season.
The return of absent skipper Ricardo Santos will help Wanderers deal with this better, but another defender who is strong and dominant in aerial duels would surely be welcome addition in the transfer market.
