Dapo Afolayan was overjoyed to finish his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers with promotion to League One.
The West Ham United loanee played a crucial part in Saturday's 4-1 win at Crawley Town, which secured Bolton's automatic return to the third tier of English football.
He was fouled in the first half - which led to George Francomb being shown a straight red card - six minutes after Afolayan had netted the second goal of the day.
Goals from himself, Antoni Sarcevic, Eoin Doyle and Lloyd Isgrove saw Ian Evatt's men finish the season in style, after a remarkable run of form in 2021.
Afolayan played 26 times for Wanderers over the course of the season and saved his only goal for the big occasion.
At full-time on Saturday, the 23-year-old was over-the-moon.
“I’m delighted, it has been emotional," he said. "It has been a long season. I joined halfway through and the boys weren’t in the best position in the league, so to be able to go up means everything to me, to the boys, and I know the fans as well.
“I never lost faith. I knew I could score goals and I have proven it at different levels now. It was just about getting myself in the right places.
"I wanted to make sure I was doing my bit for the team and making sure we were winning games, so I’m happy. Since I have been here the spirit in the group has been unbelievable.
“You see that, it’s why we have been on the run we have been on, why we deserve to be here today.
“Last week was obviously disappointing but going into this week I wasn’t really worried, I just knew if we did what we have been doing we’d be fine.
“I wasn’t really here at the start of the season, so I can’t really talk about that, but since I have been here it has been amazing.
“The club, the fans, you can see how much it means to everyone. I have been staying at the hotel, so every time I leave I meet people and I know what it means to them. To do it for them means absolutely everything to me."
