Shattered Hill praises his tireless Trotters...

BOSS Keith Hill described himself as “exhausted” after Bolton’s comeback win over fellow strugglers Southend.

Wanderers closed the gap on secondbottom United to two points with goals from Joe Dodoo, Luke Murphy and Daryl Murphy.

“I am happy but I am exhausted,” said Hill. “We went through every emotion you can do in a game.

“There was massive expectation for us to beat Southend.

But the people who expected us to beat them didn’t look at Southend and the squad they have.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game looking at their playing roster.

“We didn’t start brightly but we responded really well.”

Southend boss Sol Campbell was booked for protesting about Luke Murphy’s goal.

But the Wanderers chief insisted: “I don’t know what the consternation was about.

“You play to the referee’s whistle no matter whether there is VAR or no VAR.”

Southend went ahead when Harry Lennon headed in Sam Mantom’s corner.

Dodoo rifled Wanderers level after 36 minutes before Luke Murphy converted a fine left-foot finish in the second minute of stoppage time after assistant referee Abbas Khan seemed to have indicated offside only to lower his flag.

Daryl Murphy scored his fourth goal in five games after 65 minutes following Tim Dieng’s mistake.

That proved decisive, as Dieng’s 81st-minute header shredded home nerves in the closing stages.

Campbell said he was confused about the flag for Bolton’s second goal.

“We just wanted to know what was going on,” he added. “They made the decision and we had to get on with it.

“Of course, I am going to be passionate because Bolton scored a goal from the play-on scenario.

“We wanted to know why the flag went up, why there was no freekick or play taken back.

“The referee said it was for a pass back but whether he saw it is another thing.

“I don’t know how he saw it but the flag went up.

“Usually, he would have listened to his assistant but obviously not then.

“He must have seen something different.

“We are not getting rub of green but we have got to keep on fighting.”