JOEL Randall is confident he can be the spark that fires Wanderers’ promotion push in the second half of the season.

Signing a three-and-a-half year deal to become the most expensive signing of the Football Ventures era at Bolton for a reported £1.2million fee, the 25-year-old will go straight into the squad to face Rotherham United on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm kick-off).

Ian Evatt had spent most of the summer trying to land Randall from Peterborough United but had seemingly missed the boat when he signed an extended deal.

Despite playing in an inconsistent Posh side, Randall has still managed to score seven goals and produce the kind of stats that convinced Evatt and Bolton to have another go.

Like Peterborough, Wanderers are looking to make it third time lucky after two previous play-off disappointments, and Randall is convinced that his new club is better placed to push for Championship football in the final 23 games.

“It is tough, back to back play-offs for Bolton and Peterborough as well, the hangover is real,” he told The Bolton News. “It s hard to pick yourself back up and go again, and you get a shorter break in the off season as well.

“But being out there with the lads this morning I can see the talent and the quality they have, so once you get on a rhythm and in a run, I don’t see any reason why we can’t pick up points and get into the play-offs, that’s certainly the goal.

“Hopefully I can score and create goals, be a bright spark, that’s my role and what I know, I hope I can do that for Bolton.”

Reflecting on what has gone wrong for Peterborough United after two seasons spent fighting at the top end of the table, Randall believes they have suffered from some of the same issues which have affected Bolton.

“It is difficult to do it year on year,” he said. “I think everyone outside of football demands and expects perfection every year. Lads in every team are trying their best every game, you don’t go out there to lose, or not play well. Sometimes it happens, and for some reason that is happening at Peterborough right now and some of the Bolton fans might feel it is happening at Bolton as well at the moment. It is football, life, sometimes you can’t put a finger on why.

“This feels like a good time and a right time for me to move on. Three-and-a-half years is a long time and going from 21 to 25, it has almost been a strange period growing up from a child into a man. This is all fresh, exciting, and I think it will be good for me.

“It is hard when you are playing a certain way and teams are going to clock on to that because they know you are doing something right. They make it harder, which is only to be expected, but you have to go again to counter it. I have still got seven goals this season, I’m happy with that, but now I want to bring that here and do it again in the famous white shirt.

“I think I can add something and it’s why the manager has brought me here, to add the spark and creativity. I can link-up with players, that’s one of my strengths, and playing with good players raises my level as well. This is a good group and the potential is high.”

Randall, whose father Adrian played for Burnley and Bury in the late eighties and early nineties, grew up in Devon but hopes to live up to his family’s Lancastrian links.

“Dad met mum in Burnley when he was playing there and then went to Bury and York as well,” he said. “A lot of people have mentioned him up here, and he’ll like that, I’m not sure he’s as big down there.

“It is good to hear and hopefully the way people are speaking about him, if people can talk like that about me in the years to come I’ll be a very happy guy.”