SUPER sub Stephen Dobbie doesn’t do tap-ins.

The well-travelled striker has developed a reputation for spectacular and important goals during a career that has taken him everywhere from Northern Spirit in Australia to Queen of the South in Scotland.

Despite only being on the pitch for five minutes, Dobbie opened his account for Wanderers with a priceless strike against Nottingham Forest, four minutes into injury time.

It was enough to earn a point and relieve some pressure on a front line that hadn’t scored in a competitive game for close to 11 hours.

But the experienced front man was just happy that his former Blackpool team-mate David Vaughan had not ended up at the match-winner for Forest, with his own long-distance effort separating the two sides until the 94th minute.

“I went on holiday with Vaughany this summer to Tenerife with the kids,” he told The Bolton News. “It’s ironic we both scored but when I played with him he didn’t hit the target that much at all.

“Football-wise, he’s one of the best players I’ve played with but he’ll be getting a text reminding him that his goal wasn’t the winner, and so will big Dorus (De Vries – Forest keeper).

“It’s unfortunate I don’t seem to be able to score two or three-yard tap-ins, or else I might have scored more goals, but I do practice from that sort of range every day in training and I have done since I was young.

“I aimed for the corner and it’s a good start for me here at Bolton.”

Although Dobbie admits a weight has been lifted off the dressing room now that a goal has been scored, he believes Wanderers’ performances have merited more points than they have got so far this season.

“The boys have been playing well, it’s not as if we’ve not been making chances. We’ve hit the post and the bar three times in one game, missed a penalty, the goals will come for Gary (Madine), (Zach) Clough and Liam Feeney,” he said.

“It was a relief to get the goal, yes, but we do feel we should be higher up the table having scored more and got more points.

“We do come in and work on shooting but the gaffer has been great and he knows that we’ve been playing well.

“Now we’ll go to Blackburn on Friday, get some work done on the training field and make sure we can push on.”

Dobbie’s own opportunities have been limited so far, with just over half an hour of football played over three games for Wanderers.

But the 32-year is content to bide his time and wait in line for a first team chance.

“I’m old enough to know that the chance will come eventually,” he said. “I’ve been around the block enough times to know that if you work hard in training it’ll come for you and luckily, I got the goal today. Whether it’s a winner, an equaliser, whatever, it’s a good feeling.

“You get a chance and you should always try to take it.”

Neil Lennon toiled with the idea of throwing Dobbie on in the final stages, wondering whether Zach Clough would come good with a moment of magic after a frustrating afternoon.

But his substitution worked a treat in the end, and he believes the summer signing could come up with some important goals for Wanderers this season.

“We brought him in because he’s a good finisher and I’ve seen Stephen do that on more than one occasion,” he said.

“He will be more of an impact player for us but again it was a really clever finish because he used the defender’s body to fool the keeper.

“He has that in his locker and he probably needs more game time than he got but I just wondered whether Zach would find something.”