With Sam Dalby’s 81st-minute overhead kick, Bolton could start to plan for their return to the Championship, a division they left in 2019 as a club in turmoil. After administration, emergency loans, points deductions and a spell in League Two, they have found their way back under Steven Schumacher.

Stockport, looking to reach the second tier for the first time in 24 years, were game opponents in a tetchy meeting of two clubs from Greater Manchester but were overpowered. With the score level at 1-1 after an hour, Schumacher gave Bolton a lift with the introduction of Dalby, who has been playing through an ankle injury, and within 20 minutes the substitute had stretched their lead to 3-1 with a picture-book goal. Rúben Rodrigues’s late penalty against 10 men added gloss.

“It’s been a tough seven years for Bolton fans,” said Schumacher. “We’ve taken the next step on this journey. We’ve had some tough days but today is definitely a good one.”

Leaving League One behind at the sixth attempt presents a full-circle moment for Bolton’s owner, Football Ventures, whose last-minute deal in the summer of 2019 saved the club from liquidation. The chair, Sharon Brittan, was cheered by supporters whenever shown on the big screen. Her appointment last year of Schumacher, who guided Plymouth to the Championship in 2023, has done the trick.

Schumacher’s predecessor, Ian Evatt, suggested his Bolton team had succumbed to “pressure and fear” on their last appearance in this game two years ago, a 2-0 defeat by Oxford United. This time their supporters – who with bucket hats, sun cream and beach balls aplenty were just as equipped for a day at the beach in 30C heat – set an upbeat tone.

Schumacher’s players responded right from kick-off, taking the lead when Rodrigues, an Oxford player in the 2024 playoff final, drilled home a loose ball in the area after a nervy early parry from the Stockport goalkeeper, Corey Addai.

Stockport thought they had equalised when Adama Sidibeh beat Jack Bonham at his near post but the referee, Josh Smith, was sent to the monitor and ruled out the goal for a trip by the striker on the Bolton captain, George Johnston, as they chased a ball in behind. Stockport’s momentum grew after the drinks break. Bonham was rooted when Odin Bailey’s inswinging cross was glanced into the bottom corner by an inspired Sidibeh.

There is a feeling that, despite this setback, it is only a matter of time before Stockport reach the Championship. This was Dave Challinor’s 12th playoff campaign as a manager, including with Colwyn Bay in the 2010-11 Northern Premier League and last season’s League One semi-final exit to Leyton Orient. He and the owner, Mark Stott, have led the club here from non-league, leaving Stockport’s administration in 2009 and plunge into the sixth tier a distant memory. “It does become back to the drawing board,” said Challinor. “We’ll need the fans to back us as they have previously all through next season in the hope we can go one better.”

A sensational run from Jordi Osei-Tutu, in which the right-back won the ball, ran the length of the Stockport half and had a shot blocked by Ethan Pye, left Bolton feeling a bit better about themselves heading into the break. The Stockport centre-back Kyle Wootton went into the book after the restart for a reckless challenge on Rodrigues on halfway but it got worse when he turned the ball into his own net moments later after Addai had got fingertips to a low Amario Cozier-Duberry strike.

Challinor, feeling his side were “flat as a pancake” in the second half, hauled off his front three, and was almost rewarded. His substitute striker, Tanto Olaofe, would have scored from close range had Bonham not spread himself brilliantly to block.

Bolton’s third, Dalby pulling off the acrobatics to slam home his fellow substitute John McAtee’s tee-up, in effect ended Stockport’s hopes of a fourth promotion in seven years. The sending-off of Josh Dacres-Cogley, who joined Stockport from Bolton in January, for a hair pull on Ibrahim Cissoko spotted by the video assistant referee in the box and Rodrigues dispatching the penalty only made the day sweeter for those in white.