Bodvarsson's Bolton Wanderers debut, Afolayan, Bakayoko & Charles efforts reviewed

Ian Evatt speaks on his forward line against Shrewsbury Town

Ian Evatt believes Jon Dadi Bodvarsson's debut off the bench showed exactly what he will bring to Bolton Wanderers after his move from Millwall.

The Iceland international joined Wanderers from the Lions in midweek and made his debut yesterday in the 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town.

Dion Charles fired home a marvellous strike just before full-time to ensure Wanderers picked up back to back wins in League One.

READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt on Shrewsbury Town win, Dion Charles and Kyle Dempsey latest

Bodvarsson came on with around 25 minutes to go for Amadou Bakayoko and Evatt believes the striker displayed exactly what he could offer, but the Bolton boss urged patience with the new signing and the recently returned Bakayoko as he expressed pleasure that Wanderers picked up a victory on the road again.

He said: “I think you saw in that short spell what he’s going to give us. He uses his body really well. He’s an intelligent footballer and a clever player and he’s still getting to know us and we need to be patient with him, as we have been with Dion, as we will be with Bakayoko.

“Baka’s been out for a long time injured and it’s hard for him to gain momentum and get up to speed so we’re a work in progress and there’s lots more to come. We’ve suffered a lot and we’ll enjoy tonight but we know we’ve got lots of hard work to come.

“We’ve needed to get that monkey off our back for sure. We’ve not been happy with our away performances.

"We have had some bad luck in those times as well, but to come here and Shrewsbury are on a good unbeaten run. They don’t concede many goals and for us to get that winner and to stand up to what they threw at us all game was pleasing to see.”

The strike was Charles' first in a Wanderers shirt since his move at the start of this month from Accrington Stanley and Evatt was pleased that the goal came in the same week the striker became a father again.

He said: “I’m delighted for him because he’s had a rough time of it in recent weeks and great for his family that I think Hattie, his daughter’s name, he’s given a goal for Hattie and we spoke about that last night.

"It’s always nice for centre forwards when you buy a centre forward and they come in with expectation that they get off the mark and for it to be a winning goal in the 88th minute in front of what was a magnificent travelling support today is great for everybody.”

Dapo Afolayan came off the bench for the second game in a row to impact the game as he teed up Charles for the winner.

And Evatt was pleased with the attacker's contribution at both ends of the pitch as he felt the club's top scorer epitomised the team's work ethic.

He said: “I’m delighted with him and for him. We have to remember and he has to remember that this is his first full season in men’s professional football, so he’s going to have dips.

"He has huge expectations of himself and we also have huge expectations of him and sometimes you have dips in form and we understand that.

“In football terms and education, he’s still a young player, but his attitude when coming on today was first class. We’ve just said that to them in there that he’s made a great pass into Dion on the edge of the box and a wonderful finish, but 30 seconds later after the goal he’s sprinting to the corner flag and blocked a cross for a corner and that’s what it’s about.

"It’s defending as a team and attacking as a team and Dapo epitomised that today.”