Northern Ireland striker Dion Charles has 'mistaken identity' red card overturned

Charles, who had earlier scored his 10th league goal of the season and 13th in all competitions, was wrongfully sent off in the 28th minute in a case of mistaken identity after a linesman had told referee Tom Nield the 27-year-old allegedly struck defender Brandon Cooper.

It was in fact Bolton team-mate Elias Kachunga, who has now been handed a three-game ban for violent conduct, but despite protests, Charles was given his marching orders.

Bolton finished the game as 1-0 winners and will now have Charles back in their squad for Saturday’s Sky Bet League One clash with Charlton, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Charles has scored 20 goals in 52 games for Bolton, who sit firmly in the picture for Championship promotion after 28 matches, since joining from Accrington Stanley in January 2022 and has played 13 times for Northern Ireland.

Wanderers boss Ian Evett confirmed that Kachunga would face internal disciplinary action and says he wants to put the incident to bed now that it has been fully resolved.

“Both Kacha and the linesman are human beings and people make mistakes," he said.

"Both were very apologetic for the mistakes. The linesman apologised immediately after the game. We take his apology and move on.

"We are human beings and we must take care of each other. The tirade of abuse on social media just needs to stop - on both.

“Constructive criticism is fine. We’re in an industry which is subjective and people have opinions on football.

“We have to respect that. We put ourselves out there for constructive criticism but when that becomes personal and steps over the line it really affects people’s mental health and we have to be careful and cautious with what we say and do to each other.

“Both the linesman and Kacha were both very upset post-game but now it’s about supporting them, understanding it was a genuine mistake from both parties and we’ll move on.”