Bolton Wanderers made it three wins from three with victory over Peterborough United at home.
Wanderers hosted Posh and went close to taking the lead in the first half when Gethin Jones headed against the post. Conor Bradley had earlier seen a good chance go wide.
After the break, Dion Charles curled over from outside the box, while Jack Iredale also saw an effort saved. But Wanderers went ahead thanks to Dapo Afolayan as his deflected effort bounced over the line to deliver the hosts a valuable three points.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Peterborough - Santos, Williams, Thomason & Dempsey good
The win saw Wanderers remain fifth in the League One table and solidify a place in the top six. After the game, Ian Evatt gave his immediate reaction to the win.
What’s your reaction?
“I think we thoroughly deserved it. I thought we controlled large spells. They are a dangerous team and I thought they came here for a scrap. They really put it on us.
“There’s no soft touches here anymore. We stood up to that, stood up to the bully and eventually came out on top. I thought we deserved to win. We had all the best chances.
“I’m delighted for Dapo who has kept his head down and been professional and worked hard. He deserved that goal.”
What was the most pleasing aspect of the win?
“Just everything about it really. The fact that it felt like a proper game to be honest. It felt like two good teams and two teams that are probably going to fight it out at the top half of the table.
“But I just thought the way we stood up to the physicality and then showed moments of real quality and had lots of big chances, just didn’t take them. If I’m being critical, that’s the one area that we do need to improve on, but other than that I don’t think anybody can argue we deserved to win.”
It was cut and thrust - did it get a bit close to boiling over at times?
“I thought we kept our discipline really well. We’re a group of fighters and when our backs are to the wall, we come out swinging and that’s what we do and I think we thoroughly deserved to win. I don’t think anyone can have an argument with that.”
The last thing you want now is an international break?
“No, we’ve said goodbye to a few today but it’s not the break yet. We’ve got an important game on Tuesday and now we’ll fully focus on that.”
How testing have the last group of games been?
“Really testing. I think every game is really challenging and testing and I think if you look at the results throughout the league and the fixtures on Saturdays, there’s always surprises, there’s always upsets. It’s a really difficult league and every game throws a different challenge at you.
"We feel like we’ve had a tough start, but we’ve still got a long way to go. It’s a decent start and looks pretty good, but it’s only a start. We’ve got lots of work to do.”
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