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Dapo Afolayan feels he has plenty more goals left in the tank at Wanderers.
After matching his best-ever season haul with the second strike in a 6-0 hammering of Sunderland on Saturday, the Bolton front man feels he has plenty more to give.
Afolayan scored 11 goals for Solihull Moors in the National League by the end of January 2018, earning a move to Premier League West Ham United.
Now top scorer at Wanderers and restored to the side in spectacular style at the weekend, the 24-year-old is confident he can push on in the second half of the season.
“I felt it has always been in me,” he said. “I have moved through the divisions because I have scored goals and played well.
“When I was at Solihull Moors I scored 10 or 11 at a similar time in the season and got my move. At West Ham I got two big injuries which set me back and I didn’t give myself enough time to come back from them.
“I came to Bolton at the right time in good form, carried it on. I felt like I was contributing to the team even if I wasn’t scoring.
“This season I knew I could score but I worked hard on my game over the summer so I could create more opportunities for me and my team-mates.”
Afolayan has not yet played a full season at senior level but he did have spells on loan with the likes of Mansfield Town and Oldham Athletic which make him feel far from a novice.
“To me it doesn’t seem like that,” he said. “Playing in the National League, that is as tough as it gets. And I have had half-season loans at a few clubs where things haven’t worked out.
“People say this is my first full season in the EFL as a men’s player but I am just trying to show what I can do.
“Being at a club like this helps – there are amazing supporters, facilities, a great stadium, it all helps. A lot of stuff is taken off my shoulders and my job is just to go out there and show what I can do.”
Evatt brought Afolayan out of the side a few weeks ago after changing formation – but he fired a timely reminder on the same day, scoring as a substitute as Wanderers beat Ipswich 2-0.
The following week he also started as a sub but came off the bench to create the winning goal against Shrewsbury for Dion Charles.
Restored to the starting line-up against Sunderland, Afolayan scored one and made one, but insists he had no hard feelings about being taken out of the side.
“As a player you want to be in every game. I had a conversation with the manager and he spoke about the change in shape and system. As a player you have to understand it and keep going,” he said.
“I know the quality I can bring to the team, so if I am playing or if I am not, I will bring it off the bench if I have to.
“I have had to adapt my game a little bit to fit into the new system but I want to keep learning, keep watching clips and hopefully improve.
“The manager said about the change in shape, needing to go a different way. I understood it, being honest, it happens to the best of players.
“You have to respond and react. You have to work harder to show you should be in the team and try to have an impact, which I have tried to do.”
Eoin Doyle last year became the first player to score more than a dozen goals in a single season since Michael Ricketts in 2002 but Afolayan has 19 games left to create his own bit of history.
Asked if he had any targets, he added: “As many as I can, really. It is weird because I have always known I can score goals and have done it in the past, but this season has been really good, I have got myself in better areas, scored a few worldies as well, which helps.
“Quite a lot of my goals haven’t been as simple as that. If I can get into the right areas then I can get a few more tap ins and my tally will keep going up.”
Wanderers have eight games in February, a two-game-per-week stretch which will test their resources and almost certainly decide whether they have any chance of pushing towards the play-offs this season.
“It will be tough, let’s not shy away from it,” Afolayan said. “Going Saturday-Tuesday for four weeks is tough for anyone.
“We have got a really good squad with options, so whether it is me or someone else, we are in a good shape for the rest of the month.”
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