Keith Hill played down suggestions of a revenge win as Tranmere romped to a 3-0 Sky Bet League Two success over his former team, Bolton

However, Hill admitted his home-town club’s decision to part company with him last June left him “very hurt.”

Peter Clarke, Kieron Morris and James Vaughan netted the goals in Hill’s happy return to the University of Bolton Stadium as Tranmere bounced back well from the 5-0 defeat at Exeter.

“Just let sleeping dogs lie, that’s me,” said Hill after Rovers’ fifth win in seven games since his appointment at Prenton Park.

“I don’t get emotionally involved,” added the former Bolton manager. “But I felt very hurt, I must admit – but that’s it.

“I prefer to keep my counsel as I did when I left Barnsley and when I left Rochdale.”

Asked if there was an extra edge to the game, Hill replied: “Not really. I love the game of football and we have just won a game of football.

“It does not mean everything we do is brilliant. But our aim is promotion and we have got to make sure we are in a good position to try and achieve that this season.

“The loss at Exeter reset everybody and gave me an opportunity to learn more about the group.

“But we had a great response in training; it was relentless with a real tempo to it.

“We got the performance today – and when you get the performance you want the perfect result. And we did get the perfect result.”

Veteran defender Clarke headed Rovers into a 28th minute lead from a corner by former Bolton winger Liam Feeney.

Morris doubled the lead with a low 25-yard shot after 68 minutes before Vaughan’s 12th goal of the season came via a 75th-minute penalty.

“I don’t think the scoreline was reflective of the game,” insisted Bolton boss and Hill’s successor, Ian Evatt. “But we wouldn’t have scored in a month of Sundays.

“Maybe we put too much into Tuesday (at Cheltenham) and didn’t recover in time.

“But this division is ridiculous. We are only three or four wins off top. It is madness.

“I don’t know what I am going to get, game to game, day to day. The consistency is just not there.

“More or less everything they hit went in, more or less everything we had hit a body or went wide.

“It was a frustrating day at the office. We just didn’t give ourselves an opportunity and they have not had to work hard for their goals.”