Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt has revealed he told Dapo Afolayan he would score the winner for the club just minutes before he did so against Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
Wanderers found themselves 1-0 down with just six minutes to go in normal time, but, in the 85th minute, Conor Bradley levelled things for the away side.
The travelling support were sent into frenzy five ten minutes later, though, when Bolton snatched all three points in the 95th minute courtesy of Afolayan's effort.
Speaking after the match, boss Evatt revealed what he told the player just before scoring the late winner.
“We just needed one to go in, didn’t we, and then you could see the confidence come and Dapo will tell you, I literally said a couple of minutes before that he would score the winner." Evatt explained, via the Manchester Evening News.
“It just felt that was that a big chance was going to fall to him, that we were going to get another big chance and it was a lovely bit of magic from Josh Sheehan in the box and a very good finish.
“I’ve got an immense belief in my team and my players. I see what they do day to day. We spoke about the data and the statistics in the week and a lot of things that we’re doing is absolutely right.
“I could sense the way that they were performing today was exactly what I asked for. Sometimes you get what you deserve, sometimes you don’t, but I was really calm. I’m getting older now and I need to calm down but today, I just had a huge amount of belief with the players.
“I don’t think we were erratic with our decision making, I think we didn’t shoot on site, we still probed and picked the right passes at the right times. We put some good balls into the box, sometimes we were in the right positions and sometimes not.
“That is development and work on the training ground and we’ll keep working really hard to improve that, but to come away from home against a team that’s really challenging and difficult to beat in a really difficult stadium which we felt last season, to dominate the game like we did and play like we did today has made me immensely proud.”
After the victory, Bolton climbed to fifth in the League One standings.
Evatt's side also have a game in hand on Peterborough in fourth, whom they are level on points with.
The Verdict
I think this revelation just shows what confidence Ian Evatt has in his side.
He could see they were the better side on Saturday, and for his team to go on and snatch a late winner via the player he had just told will go and score is remarkable.
In fact, it would be really interesting to put the above quotes to Afolayan himself and see if those comments spurred him on at all in the final stages.
If so, what brilliant man management it was by Evatt as his side looked for a winner.