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Dion Charles will return from the biggest night of his international career looking to stay on the scoring trail at Wanderers.
Fresh from his goal Northern Ireland’s 2-0 win against Denmark at Windsor Park on Tuesday night, the in-form striker will be looking to shoot down Exeter City this weekend as Ian Evatt’s side resumes their automatic promotion chase.
Charles has 12 goals for club and country this season and last month became the fastest Bolton player to reach double figures since John McGinlay 30 years ago.
Now with 40 to his name since signing for Wanderers in January 2022, the 28-year-old is in no mood to slow down.
“For me it’s all about scoring the goals,” he said. “So long may it continue. I want 15 before Christmas, hopefully, and 50 goals for Bolton by the end of the season, which isn’t too far away.”
Only 29 players have scored 50 times for Wanderers in the club’s history, with Kevin Nolan the last name on the list.
“That would be amazing to be put on the ranks with players like that,” Charles said. “I can’t get too carried away but that is always the aim, to join a bit of history at the club.
“Anybody would want to leave a legacy at a club as big as this, so if I can do that, I will know I have done well.”
Speaking after Northern Ireland’s win against Denmark – who had already qualified as group winners for next summer’s Euros – Charles said it had been a satisfying end to what had been a difficult campaign.
“That was more like it, it was a great result,” he said, having got the better of Barcelona centre-back Andreas Christensen.
"It was very hard work but we got the rewards at the end. We went out there with no fear, we had nothing to lose.
"We were the underdogs. They were a brilliant team, but we knew that if we could stay in the game and work hard then we would always get an opportunity.
"Throughout this campaign we've been on the wrong end of the 1-0 results, but we were clinical when we got the opportunities.”
Charles hit the post in the first half, then after Isaac Price had opened the scoring, he grabbed a third international goal of his career with 10 minutes remaining, turning in a low cross from Connor McMenamin.
Having featured alongside Bolton team-mate Eoin Toal in a heavy defeat in Finland on Monday, the striker was delighted to be part of such an emphatic response.
“Hopefully we've made the fans proud tonight and shown them that the future can be bright with this group of young players we've got.
"It will definitely give us belief and confidence going forward and with the hard work we put in that more nights like tonight are possible.
"We've all got to buy in and work hard throughout the next campaigns. Our aim is to qualify for a major tournament.
"Denmark were the top seed in our group and we've beaten them. We just need to transfer the way we played tonight into every game.
"A lot of people would have questioned our mentality and that we probably wouldn't have been able to have come back from that 4-0 defeat in Finland, but we've sent the fans home happy and the future can be bright.”
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