Bolton manager Ian Evatt hailed a great victory for Wanderers and the town of Bolton after delivering the club’s first knock-out trophy in 34 years.
Evatt and his team turned on a Wembley master-class to beat League One leaders Plymouth Argyle 4-0 and win the Papa Johns Trophy in front of almost 80,000 fans on a magical afternoon.
The super Whites were an unstoppable force as two goals in each half from Kyle Dempsey and Dion Charles before the break and Elias Kachunga and Gethin Jones afterwards gave Wanderers the biggest final win in the competition’s history.
Wanderers enjoyed a 4-1 extra-time win over Torquay in 1989 to win the same trophy but this group of players will now go down in history after Evatt’s class of ’23 underlined the club’s journey back from near oblivion less than four years ago.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the players performed on the big stage and I’m extremely proud of this football club,” said Evatt, who can now add to the Trophy to a promotion from League Two to his Wanderers’ managerial CV.
“We’ve had a hell of a journey. We almost lost it. Sharon and the ownership group have saved the football club and re-built it from top to bottom.
“We’ve built a connection with the fan-base, with the town, with the community. Bolton Wanderers is the heartbeat of Bolton. You could feel that connection with the 35,000 fans that travelled.
“We owed them a good day like this. I’m so happy that we managed to do it and perform the way we did.
“To feel the energy from the fan-base, to feel what it means to them, to see Sharon and the rest of the owners and what it means to them, I take great pride in that.
“This is hopefully the first of many. Days like this are addictive. We want more of these days.”
