Returning Amario Cozier-Duberry earns manager’s praise as Bolton run riot

Bolton boss Steven Schumacher hailed the return of Brighton loanee Amario Cozier-Duberry as he scored twice in a 5-1 rout of play-off rivals Stevenage.

The winger had been out of action for more than three months with an injured knee but proved the inspiration on his first start since January 24, helping Bolton all but secure their spot in the top six.

“It has been a while and we have really missed him,” said Schumacher, whose side recorded their biggest home win of the season.

“Anyone in this league would miss a player of his quality for as long as we have, having him out of your team would be a blow to anyone. And it’s to our credit that we have managed to stay in the top six without him.

“But having him back on the pitch, just his enthusiasm and his energy, it’s infectious. He can create something out of nothing. It’s difficult for opposition to mark him and his two goals tonight were excellent.”

Cozier-Duberry opened the scoring with a 20-yard strike before Johnny Kenny doubled Bolton’s lead, converting Thierry Gale’s cross.

Stevenage’s Daniel Phillips was sent off for elbowing Kenny, which paved the way for three second-half goals, scored by Cozier-Duberry, Ruben Rodrigues and Mason Burstow.

Dan Kemp netted a spectacular consolation for Stevenage, who had put themselves firmly in play-off contention a few days earlier with an impressive win at Bradford.

Schumacher, whose side lost 2-0 at Cardiff at the weekend, felt Wanderers were worthy of an eye-catching scoreline.

“It was much, much better than Cardiff and we were really positive from the start,” he said.

“We tried to take the game to Stevenage early on and the mood was just better. I just felt it was a night that we needed to start well and get going.

“I haven’t paid any attention to points or positions, we just want to win the next game because the target since the start of the season has been promotion and that avenue is still open to us.”

Stevenage boss Alex Revell admits Phillips’ red card at the end of the first half probably cost his side any chance of avoiding a first defeat in five.

“A tough evening, made more difficult by the sending-off obviously but to go 2-0 down away here, you want to start the game right,” he said.

“We didn’t start the game right, so we had to change the shape and then we started to get a bit more foothold in the game.

“Then a lack of discipline – and this is probably one of the worst teams to come to down to 10 men because they use the ball so well, they’ve got good players.

“But the most important thing for us is that this doesn’t define us at all. This is a tough night, but what you do is you regroup.

“We’re still in a brilliant position and with two really, really tough away games from play-off contenders, we’ve taken three points from six. So now we recover, we get ready for a fantastic game on Saturday (against promoted Lincoln).”