Ian Evatt was left beaming with pride after seeing Antoni Sarcevic score a 77th-minute winner as his Bolton side beat Lincoln 1-0 at the LNER Stadium.

Sarcevic struck 13 minutes from time following a mix-up in the Imps defence between goalkeeper Josh Griffiths and left-back Tayo Edun, with Wanderers claiming their first Sky Bet League One victory of the season to send the 1,000 away fans home happy.

“Teams are now finding it very hard to beat us and tonight we fully deserved the victory,” said Evatt. “We have a huge amount of belief – this team is not used to losing games any more. I am so proud of everybody tonight.

“This team is still improving. They’ve applied everything in terms of the information I supplied to them yesterday. We don’t go anywhere to draw, we try to win every game we play.

“Everybody kept telling me Bolton got beat here 5-1 the other year, which was a really dark day for the club. That hurt and I promised that wouldn’t happen again and the boys have done us all proud.”

Evatt paid tribute to the travelling fans, who roared their side on to victory, saying: “It was amazing support for a Tuesday night so far away and we have to enjoy these types of nights.”

Lincoln manager Michael Appleton, who saw his side go close through efforts from Conor McGrandles, Hakeeb Adelakun and Anthony Scully, was a picture of frustration as he lamented the Imps’ first league loss of the campaign.

“We made about three or four mistakes within a few seconds and it cost us,” he said.

“It was almost a catalogue of errors that led to their goal. It’s very fine margins. It hasn’t happened for us tonight, but there are things that pleased us. These errors can be irritating – if the players can eradicate them from their play then they should be fine.

“I want to see us being more aggressive in the box, I thought there were too many scuffed shots. I thought we should have gone ahead in the first half, but after the break it was pretty even, we had a couple of opportunities, they had a couple too.”

Appleton, though, was pleased to roll out new signing TJ Eyoma before kick-off, with last season’s defensive loanee joining the club on a permanent deal from Tottenham.

“I am delighted to bring him in as it has run on a little bit and other clubs came into the picture,” he added.

“He gives us options, is a durable character and makes himself available for every game, which is important.”