After a scintillating 4-1 victory over Stockport County in the League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium this past Sunday, Saint Lucia international Chris Forino Joseph is set to compete in England’s second-tier Championship next season, capping a dream campaign for Bolton Wanderers with a standout, position-shifting performance.
Normally deployed as an attacking wing-back for his national side, Forino Joseph was forced into an unexpected role for the decisive Wembley showdown. With Bolton captain Eoin Toal sidelined by a hamstring injury, the 26-year-old stepped up to fill the centre-back gap, turning in a masterful defensive display that anchored his side’s promotion push.
The opening minutes of the match set a frantic tone, as Bolton’s Ruben Rodrigues fired his side into the lead within the first five minutes of kickoff. Stockport County responded quickly, however, with Adama Sidibeh drawing the sides level in the 29th minute. The deadlock held through halftime, but a dominant second-half performance from Bolton put the result beyond doubt: an own goal broke the tie, before a blistering scissor kick from Sam Dalby and a late penalty converted by Rodrigues stretched the final score to 4-1. The win secures Bolton’s return to the Championship after a seven-year absence from England’s second division.
In an emotional post-match interview with the Bolton News, Forino Joseph did not hold back his excitement. “Excuse my French, but it’s f****g fantastic, unbelievable,” he said. “We set out the objective when I signed for the club and this season, to do it, and you have got to do the press right, play the game right, but if you have to choose between doing it automatically and doing it at Wembley, you do it at Wembley.”
The 26-year-old described the immediate aftermath of the final whistle as a surreal blur, saying: “The gaffer said to me when we were lifting the trophy, ‘You lot were excellent second half’, and I don’t even know what I thought, I wasn’t taking it in, it’s all a bit of a haze. We were so locked in on the game.”
Sunday’s play-off final was played under unusual climatic conditions: a UK Bank Holiday heatwave pushed temperatures at Wembley up to 30 degrees Celsius by the 1 pm kickoff, forcing match officials to schedule regular cooling breaks for exhausted players. Despite the grueling conditions, Forino Joseph remained in high spirits ahead of the club’s victory parade through Bolton’s Victoria Square, and was quick to credit his teammates and the club’s support staff for the successful campaign.
“The boys were excellent, nobody went down with cramp, so credit to Paul Walsh and the medical staff, the doc, David Humphreys, he has been exceptional,” Forino Joseph said enthusiastically. He added a lighthearted note about his own recent brush with illness, joking: “I was ill leading up to the Bradford game, and I think I should put him on a retainer for next season, because he has been a different class.”