AARON Collins scored against his former club to keep Wanderers in the driving seat for the final play-off spot in League One.
The Bolton striker settled a forgettable game with a 75th minute header, ensuring that Steven Schumacher’s side remain in sixth spot with six games left to play.
Wanderers were not at their best but they had not beaten Bristol Rovers on home turf since 1989, and just as it was against Wigan a few days earlier, the result was of paramount importance.
Another clean sheet and another display of competitiveness and resilience masked over some of the more aesthetic issues.
Wanderers made two changes from the side that won down the road in midweek, bringing Aaron Morley back into midfield after his suspension and Carlos Mendes Gomes into the attack, with George Thomason and Joel Randall making way.
On the bench, Kyle Dempsey made his first appearance since October, having turned down surgery on an injured knee to try and play some part in the remaining games.
Bolton had dropped to seventh by virtue of Reading’s lunchtime win against Wycombe so knew they needed to win to climb back into the top six. Rovers also knew that Burton had lost at Wrexham, so any positive result would put more distance between them and the relegation battle.
Given all of that, it is a mystery why the first half was played at a pace more reminiscent of an end-of-season game with nothing riding on it.
Wanderers kept the ball well enough but produced very little. Aaron Morley drove one shot from the edge of the box straight into the hands of Jed Ward, and Connor Taylor flicked a header on to his own crossbar from a Wanderers corner.
The visitors, who had won just one of their last 10 away from home and lost all five of the games they had played since beating the Whites at the Memorial Stadium last month, looked organised and competed well but offered very little in attack themselves.
The Grand National started at 4pm, coinciding with the return of the two teams for the second half. As such, there were noticeable gaps when the action restarted, slowly filled as people returned to their seats in the first few minutes. They had missed nothing.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half Bolton continued to dominate the ball but their careful, measured build-up play, and seemingly steadfast refusal to shoot was clearly grating with the home crowd.
The game flickered into life on the hour when John McAtee brought a good save out of Ward. The Wanderers striker was flagged offside – but it did wake the fans from their slumber, and resulted in a little more urgency being shown.
Collins tested the keeper with a stinging shot a few moments before a freakish long punt from Taylor Moore caught out Nathan Baxter, who after slipping was relieved to see the ball bounce just wide of goal.
With 20 minutes left, McAtee brought keeper Ward into action again, lashing a volley which was pushed athletically around the post.
Schumacher tried to recharge his side with the introduction of Gethin Jones, then Jay Matete and Dempsey in midfield – the latter being given a rousing welcome on to the pitch from the 22,000-plus.
With Stockport and Huddersfield both winning, the pressure to find a breakthrough was immense. And, as so often has been the case this season, it was Collins who provided the answer.
Sheehan and Morley combined on the right edge of the box to find Jones’s clever run, and his chipped cross was headed home by the Welshman for his 18th of the season.
Suddenly, there was a game on. McAtee and Dempsey nearly caught the visitors on the break moments before Rovers had their best chance of the game, a header from close range by Matt Butcher which was pushed away superbly by Baxter.
As the final minutes ticked down, the nervousness started. Sub Scott Sinclair sliced a shot from six yards which could easily have brought an equaliser and when the fourth official signalled six minutes of added time, the tension grew.
But Bolton managed the game well from there, with Osei-Tutu killing valuable time in the corner in the closing stages.
