But the Robins boss looked like crying into flat beer until substitutes Sam Bell and Scott Twine helped him and his team rejoice in style.

There were murmurings of criticism from a section of the away fans when he took off Lorent Tolaj with Bolton 2-1 up and on course for a first win in three games.

However, Skubala rang the changes and Bell – Tolaj’s replacement – equalised in the 84th minute before Twine steered in Jed Wallace’s pass in the third minute of stoppage time.

“If they are turning at me, no problem,” said Skubala as City won for the first time in five games.

“As long as they don’t turn at the players, that is the most important thing. It is my job to take that pressure. But I will always make decisions I think will win us the game.

“You have to do that, to be fair to the lads. Tolly has been injured and only just made this game and was tiring.

“If I don’t make those decisions then Sam Bell doesn’t get a chance to show what he can do.”

Certainly, City’s strength in depth off the bench was crucial to turning the game on its head.

Skubala continued: “We had a wobble in the second half but after that the lads were excellent. We created some big chances.

“But what I liked was our character. The subs coming on to impact the game is what you want.

“The group work hard and I love them to bits. They definitely won that game.”

Dom Ballard fired City in front from Jason Knight’s cross, his fourth goal of the season, after 13 minutes.

But three minutes later Welsh international Josh Sheehan equalised with a superb long-range right foot effort.

Both sides created chances before the break with Atsuki Ito hitting the upright for Bolton and Tolaj having a shot saved by Jack Bonham and another disallowed for offside.

Tolaj had another effort ruled out in the second half before striker Sam Dalby put Bolton in front from Ito’s assist after 57 minutes.

Goalkeeper Brad Collins’ stunning save prevented Ruben Rodrigues making it 3-1 before minutes later Bell converted Cam Pring’s centre and Twine hit the winner.

The late withdrawals through cramp of defenders Chris Forino and Ben Davies through cramp-also was another big factor in Bolton’s fall from grace.

“It was a game we should win,” said Bolton boss Steven Schumacher. “We should definitely not lose it.

“For probably 80 minutes we were in complete control. They scored with their first attack while we should have had a goal to kill it off but we didn’t take it.

“Ruben had a huge chance to make it 3-1 a minute before they went down the other end and scored.

“They are the small margins because if we go 3-1 they lose all their energy. But when they got their second goal it gave them a huge lift.

“We became a bit ragged after we had to make a change in the backline. The game became more stretched and they have some good players like every team in this league.

“But we can’t keep conceding three goals if we are going to win games.”