Bolton Wanderers may be big outsiders to gatecrash the League One play-off party, but on Saturday afternoon at the Mornflake Stadium they showed that they will not go down without a fight.

The Trotters left it incredibly late, but a 90th minute goal from Amadou Bakayoko secured all three points against Crewe Alexandra for Ian Evatt's side and sent the travelling fans who packed into two stands home very happy.

That winning effort may have only left Bolton in 11th position in League One, but for the most part since the turn of the year there have been many positive performances and right now they only sit nine points off the play-off spots.

With a few teams between them and sixth-placed Sunderland though, it's a tall order for Evatt to guide them into the top six this season, but he's built a solid team at the University of Bolton Stadium and leading them at the back is Ricardo Santos.

The centre-back was a powerhouse in League Two last season when Wanderers were promoted at the first time of asking, and the 26-year-old is proving his worth to the club yet again with his recent showings.

Evatt recently labelled Santos as the not only the best defender in the league, but the top defender outside of the Premier League - high praise indeed.

And Santos played a major part in repelling Crewe's attack at the weekend, despite the fact that David Artell's Railwaymen have not been that potent throughout the season.

Crewe were restricted to just two shots of any kind, with Santos leading by example from the back to keep the third tier strugglers at bay.

Looking at Santos' stat-line from the match, he made nine clearances from Crewe attacks, 17 recoveries of the ball, six interceptions, won all four of his defensive duels and also won four aerial duels as well (via Wyscout).

Santos also showed his comfort on the ball by completing 18 out of 22 passes, including five of his six attempts at long passes, and he was also a threat in the opposition area with a shot on target and winning two offensive duels.

If Bolton are going to have success in the next couple of years then it appears that Santos will be pivotal to everything - if they can keep hold of him that is - and even though Crewe aren't the most dangerous of teams in League One, you can only dominate what's in front of you, and Santos did just that.