FIFTEEN years ago, Bolton Wanderers were playing their first competitive match in Europe and we were there in Burgas.

On Saturday we were playing Harrogate Town for the first time and we could not be there. How times have changed with both clubs deserving to be where they are now in League Two.

The town of Bolton got lucky with the Lockdown Lottery this week and so I was able to squeeze a couple of socially distant beers in the No-Name before returning home to iFollow the match.

Our manager Ian Evatt made several changes in defence and midfield and it was good to see the return of captain Antoni Sarcevic after injury to lead our troops into battle.

We were up for this match from the start and it was no surprise when Eoin Doyle finally got his and our first league goal of the season.

When Nathan Delfouneso got the second, we Bolton fans were in unchartered territory, not quite sure whether we could relax and enjoy it yet.

Harrogate did respond and pulled one back, giving us some nervous moments, but we grew in strength with the substitutions and saw the game out reasonably comfortably in the end.

The only negative from the match was the accidental injury to Gethin Jones, which looks serious. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.

The value and importance of this first League Two win of the season cannot be underestimated.

It has got us up and running, something to build on.

It has lifted the fans and must have lifted the players, giving them some much needed confidence.

But one swallow does not make a summer, just as the three defeats should not have written our season off. Of course, there were things that could have been done better and Ian Evatt and his management team will look forward to working on these. At least now, I feel they have something to work on.

Off the field, we are in to the final stages of the transfer window. I personally think that it will take two or three transfer windows to build the squad we need.

We have yet to see Muhammadu Faal at this level and lots of other promising youngsters, who will fare better in a winning team.

Suddenly things look a whole lot brighter at the Unibol. Let’s keep it that way.