Why Amadou Bakayoko played longer than planned in Bolton Wanderers' B team Bamber Bridge loss

Amadou Bakayoko played for Bolton Wanderers' B team to get minutes in his legs and played longer than anticipated originally as Matt Craddock hailed his impact on his young group of players.

Bakayoko has missed a part of pre-season owing to a slight knee problem which meant he missed a couple of the club's first team fixtures before the League One campaign starts. Wanderers begin the season on July 30 away to Ipswich Town.

The Sierra Leone international returned to action last weekend in the 3-1 loss on the road to Carlisle United. He came off the bench in the second half against the Cumbrians.

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Last night, Bakayoko started for the Whites' B team as they took on non-league side Bamber Bridge. Brig's Fin Sinclair-Smith scored what proved to be the winner after the break, though Wanderers went close through Conor Carty with an effort which came off the crossbar.

Speaking after the game, Craddock said the plan was for Bakayoko to play the first half at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium. But because the forward felt good, he stayed on until the hour mark as the B team head coach hailed his impact on a young group which is still learning and felt that there were plenty of positives to take from their second half performance in particular.

Craddock said: "He (Bakayoko) just needed some minutes tonight. 45 minutes we had in mind, and he felt really good so we gave him another 15. I think if we would have let him have his way, he would have probably carried on so we had to drag him off in the end! He is fantastic for the lads and he has been brilliant with the group.

"The manager said at the weekend we win or we learn and we’re