Max Clayton thrilled to open his Bolton account

Striker offers his thoughts to the club following his first goal for Wanderers against Wigan

Max Clayton praised Wanderers’ collective team effort as he scored his first goal for the club in Friday evening’s 3-1 victory over Wigan Athletic.

The striker opened the scoring for the Whites against the Latics, collecting Lee Chung-Yong’s threaded pass before slotting the ball beneath Wigan goalkeeper Scott Carson.

A goal which marked his first start for the club since his recent move from Crewe Alexandra, the 20-year-old admitted his delight at opening his account for the Trotters and praised his team-mates for their emphatic display at Macron Stadium.

“It was great to finally score having missed a couple of chances in the last few games, but the gaffer had a lot of confidence in me going into the match, so I had a feeling that I’d score,” said the forward. “For it to go through the keeper’s legs and hit the back of the net was a great feeling.

“I didn’t think that Chungy had seen me when I broke away, so when it got reversed to me I couldn’t believe it at first.

“When the keeper came out though, I took it as early as I could and it went in, so I’m happy with that.

“I feel like I should definitely have had another one, but it was a great team effort – we had a lot of shots and attempts on target which is what we need.

“The gaffer had encouraged us to shoot on sight a lot more and we really smelt blood when we went forward, feeling like we could get more, but 3-1 is still a very good result.

“The manager fills us with confidence going into each game, and we really feel like we can attack teams and beat them heavily – as you can see out there, we are all full of belief and it was a great team performance.”

Clayton also reserved praise for the club’s supporters, with the striker believing that the backing the team received played a crucial part in helping the Whites secure all three points.

“The fans played a massive part in the game – they really pulled us through,” he said. “It’s been a difficult period for the club, but hopefully we’re out of that now and we can make this place a fortress.

“I’m just so pleased for all the players and staff and especially the management staff, because they’ve come in and made such a difference.

“We’re only looking up now – all we can do is worry about ourselves and four wins from six games is a really good start. “
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