IF it is the play-offs, then so be it; winning at Wembley is the most exciting way to be promoted anyhow!

There will be a time to dig down into why Wanderers failed to take full advantage of the strong position they held at the start of the year, and how consistency rather than quality has seemingly secured Derby County second spot alongside Portsmouth in the automatic promotion race. But there is a feeling right now that the story of Bolton’s season is still only half told.

Bolton’s fans have lived on their nerves at times during the last eight months but very few of the 22,000-plus who turned up on Saturday afternoon to applaud their heroes off the pitch will claim they have not got their money’s worth.

This season at the Toughsheet Wanderers have rattled in 77 goals in all competitions, losing just once in 31 games. Sure, for every 7-0 thrashing of Exeter City we have witnessed two games like this one – stacked with missed opportunities and penalty box nervousness – but if you can say nothing else about Ian Evatt’s entertainers, it is that you cannot take your eyes off them for a moment.

Victory against Port Vale was comfortable, if awkward at times. Once again, the Whites created enough goalscoring opportunities to win three games back-to-back, raining in 27 shots on the visitors’ goal. But it took 77 minutes and an Aaron Collins thunderbolt to finally break the deadlock before Cameron Jerome headed a second in stoppage time.

Vale knew early on that their relegation fate was probably sealed, with Burton racing into a lead at home to Reading. Bolton’s slim hopes rested on Cambridge United doing the business against Derby County but by half time, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s goal had put the Rams ahead, and Paul Warne’s obstinate team was never likely to let that lead slip.

Barring a miracle next week at Peterborough United, we are all destined for another nail-biting go at the play-offs. Given Bolton’s impressive home record and the new stars who are starting to shine, however, it is impossible not to feel confident that they can succeed at a stage where they stumbled at Barnsley last year.

New stars are now shining in Evatt’s team and if the Wanderers boss can get big names like Dion Charles and Ricardo Santos up to speed in the next week-or-so, then he will feel his side is the one to beat.

Collins has taken up the goal-scorer’s mantle in a way that we did not really expect when he made the £750,000 move from Bristol Rovers on deadline day. His returns had been fairly modest at the Memorial Stadium, where he had been more of a creator than a finisher, but since being converted to a number nine in Charles’s absence the Welshman has thrived.

There is a swagger in Collins’ stride right now that bodes well, and a sense that he could at any given time create a goal out of nothing. His name bounced around the stadium late in the game after a savage right-footed shot beat Connor Ripley and the considerable investment the club made to bring him to Lancashire is now looking very sound indeed.

One wonders if they will take the same view with Paris Maghoma? On loan from Brentford until the end of the season but looking for options in the summer, his price tag must be going up each time he laces up his boots right now.

When Evatt sold Dapo Afolayan to St Pauli last January – the former West Ham man unable to find his niche in what was then a new system – the decision was widely questioned by the fanbase. On his day, like Maghoma, Afolayan was a match-winner, able to open up defences and run at opposition defenders in a way very few of his team-mates could match, but his work out of possession did not always marry up.

As this season has developed, the defensive side of Maghoma’s game has improved. Only Caleb Taylor, who enjoyed an excellent return to the side as Ricardo Santos’s cover, made more successful challenges against Port Vale, underlining the view that the 22-year-old is now showing substance as well as style.

He continues to thrill, delight, and occasionally frustrate on the ball, but Maghoma is playing with the swagger of a man at the top of his game and the crowd is fully on board.

Wanderers do need to refine their work around the penalty box. The first half felt like Groundhog Day as chances went begging with alarming regularity. This team is creating so many chances, however, that the sheer weight of numbers always gives them a chance of winning a game.

Defensively, you may argue that Vale got chances their stake in the game did not deserve. Nathan Baxter made a couple of smart saves in the second half as Darren Moore’s side made a last valiant effort to stay in the division.

Randell Williams had also stepped into the team at a late stage, Nat Ogbeta limping off during the warm-up, and he proved to be one of Bolton’s most effective players on the day.

Evatt and his staff sounded optimistic that Ogbeta’s injury would not be a significant one, which leaves them with a strong squad going into the final weekend and a game at Peterborough which could be more about psychological advantage than anything else.

It appears Bolton have missed out on the target they set but narratives can change quickly in football, and it now becomes a case of proving they are the best of the rest. Unlike 12 months ago, there is a sense this team will score goals every time it runs out of the tunnel – well, eventually – and if Santos can return to bolster the back line, then who is to say we cannot finish this season in style in the capital?