HOW can a team that has scored so freely this season still seem to short-change us in front of goal so regularly? A question one hopes we are not left pondering this summer after a changeable League One promotion race is done.

Bolton are one of only five teams – Liverpool, Manchester City, Peterborough United and Wrexham being the others – who have scored more than 100 goals in the current campaign.

And yet how often have fans been left wanting more, when the quality and quantity of chances created has far outweighed the goal return?

Wanderers knew they were being judged by high standards this season as they chased a top two spot and that will continue to the last. Here, they dominated a team that has set the pace in League One for several months, the standard of performance arguably higher than the previous two home outings where they rattled five past Reading or Oxford United, but the single point gained felt unsatisfactory.

This 90 minutes of football was a microcosm of the season as a whole, yet applying any large degree of analysis is a redundant exercise. With three games to go, Bolton have reached the stage where belief is paramount. The whos, whys and wherefores can wait for the summer.

Other than the well-taken header from Aaron Collins which got Wanderers level before the break, the key moments were chances that went begging.

Be it Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s scoop over the bar from Josh Dacres-Cogley’s cut back, Collins taking a tap-in off Paris Maghoma’s toes or a second-half effort from the returning Dion Charles which bounced off the foot of the post, Pompey somehow survived with Champagne flutes intact, and will surely secure promotion on Tuesday night when they host Barnsley at Fratton Park.

A tip of the cap to the soon-to-be Champions. Portsmouth have not been especially flash as they held on to top spot with an iron grip this last seven months. Their players won’t necessarily dominate the end-of-season teams of the year polls, but they have been achingly consistent, and the job John Mousinho has done deserves acknowledgement.

Viewed as a gamble when he was appointed without any real first team managerial experience 18 months ago, he has turned an underachieving squad into a resilient and effective machine on a playing budget which is healthy, but not excessive.

Wanderers have gone about things a different way. Their shock and awe style has produced some truly memorable moments, and some that have left supporters ripping out clumps of hair in frustration. All that said, Ian Evatt’s team must still believe that with performances like this they will be playing Championship football next season, whether that means negotiating the play-offs or not.

Perhaps more importantly, that belief must also extend to the supporters, who came to their team’s aid on Saturday to produce an atmosphere which was comparable with anything we have seen in the post-Premier League era.

Indeed, this was the biggest third-tier attendance this stadium has ever seen, and the largest that Bolton have recorded since beating Blackburn Rovers in March 2012, a week after Fabrice Muamba had collapsed at White Hart Lane, Tottenham.

The pubic had answered Evatt’s call and there is every indication that they will again for the visits of Shrewsbury Town and Port Vale in the week to come.

With that avenue of inspiration sorted, it falls upon the Bolton boss to make sure the disappointment felt at the final whistle does not follow them into Tuesday night. Before kick-off against Portsmouth, George Thomason stepped up to deliver a speech with his team-mates huddled around him, and if the Whites are to force another slip from Derby, they will need more leaders to step up too.

The man wearing the captain’s armband certainly delivered a performance of real steel.

In fact, whichever silly boy packaged together Kusini Yengi’s post-match comments from Fratton Park in December and attempted to weaponise them for social media banter did Bolton a massive favour.

Ricardo Santos has so many strengths to his game, but he is naturally an easy going individual, who can lack a bit of devilment. Whatever woke the beast in this instance did Colby Bishop and the aforementioned Australian substitute no favours at all, with the Bolton captain putting in his most dominant display of the season.

Pompey had been given a leg-up with an seventh minute goal for Abu Kamara which stemmed from a sloppy Bolton throw, Josh Sheehan losing the ball uncharacteristically, and the impressive Pompey winger racing through almost unchecked to bury a shot past Nathan Baxter.

Wanderers reacted well, a real measure of their character. They controlled the first half, Maghoma taking lead in midfield, and Collins’s header from Nat Ogbeta’s cross was the least they deserved going into the break.

Pompey improved after Tino Anjorin’s arrival at half time and flashed a couple of shots at Baxter’s goal but the big chances continued to be carved out by the men in white.

Charles came on with 10 minutes to go and the rain falling heavily, seemingly destined to atone for that game-turning miss at Fratton Park. Fellow sub Kyle Dempsey carved out a fine chance but the Wanderers talisman could only prod his shot on to the woodwork.

Pompey spoiled and slowed, referee Anthony Backhouse uninterested in punishing any of the skulduggery and offering a meagre eight minutes of added time across both halves.

At the final whistle, all the home fans could do was applaud the effort, while Pompey’s travelling contingent sang about celebrations yet to come.

We can only hope there is another twist to come in this unpredictable campaign and that, for once, the footballing gods will be on Bolton’s side.

But the job for Evatt and his players does not change – the fans lived up to their end of the bargain, and so must they.