Bolton have been promoted back to Sky Bet League One at the first time of asking after a 4-1 win against Crawley.

Ian Evatt's men travelled to West Sussex knowing that they would return to the third tier if fourth-placed Morecambe failed to better their result, and could also be champions if they won, Cheltenham lost with a 13-goal swing and Cambridge failed to win.

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With Cheltenham and Cambridge both winning, Bolton secured the third automatic promotion spot as goals from Antoni Sarcevic, Oladapo Afolayan, Eoin Doyle and Lloyd Isgrove earned them victory over mid-table Crawley, who got a late consolation through Davide Rodari.

Wanderers had won 14 of their 20 games prior to the trip south, having been sat 19th as recently as February.

Wanderers made the ideal start from their first attack when skipper Antoni Sarcevic notched his eighth goal of the season in superb style, running on to a pass from George Thomason and cutting inside before firing into the roof of the net.

It got better for the Trotters after 26 minutes when Dapo Afolayan, on loan from West Ham, doubled the lead with his first goal for the club at the far post after being set up by Gethin Jones.

Eoin Doyle had an effort ruled out for off-side before Crawley's problems increased when captain George Francomb collected a second yellow card and was sent off 11 minutes before the break.

Doyle, who scored a hat-trick for Swindon on his previous visit to Crawley, made it 3-0 with a cool finish four minutes after the break, his 19th goal of the season, after Afolayan and Sarcevic had combined.

Afolayan headed over when well placed from a ball from Sarcevic as Wanderers continued to threaten.

Lloyd Isgrove put the seal on Bolton's day of celebration by cashing in on a slip by Tony Craig to run through and score a fourth after 77 minutes.

Substitute Davide Rodari fired his first Crawley goal in the 89th minute but it did little to dampen Bolton's joy.

Evatt: We had no right to be promoted

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"I thought from the first minute to the last the boys were outstanding," Bolton manager Ian Evatt told Sky Sports.

"We had no right to get promoted, we were 19th on February 6 and the run these players have been on has been incredible.

"We expected to win last week and it didn't happen and we were really hurt as a club, that has fuelled us this week from Monday morning we were switched on and we performed like that, which was exceptional. The players have been outstanding.

"We are a completely new team in the middle of a pandemic with a salary cap, it was always going to take time and luckily for me I have a board of directors who that gave me time, recruited well in January and then the players did the rest; they have been outstanding."

Bolton can push on in League One - Goodman

Sky Sports' Don Goodman: "It's been a magnificent effort. It would have been very easy for Ian Evatt to stay at Barrow, who he had just got promoted, but he took on a project to rebuild Bolton, a club that really did need rebuilding. He brought in a lot of experienced players and what we saw today was a far superior team.

"When you are a better team it's really important that you impose yourself on the opposition on the start and they did that. I thought they were magnificent to a man.

"I can see them having a really good season in League One. In 2017/18 Coventry, Luton and Wycombe were promoted out of League Two and they have all been in the Championship this year. The gap can be bridged between League Two and League One."

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