Joe Lolley fires in Nottingham Forest's opener against Bolton Wanderers

Relegated Bolton Wanderers' chaotic Championship season ended in defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Joe Lolley netted Forest's first-half winner, shooting low into the net from 12 yards after Wanderers failed to clear a cross from the left wing.

Sunday's match went ahead after Bolton's players agreed to end their strike over unpaid wages for March and April.

The boycott led to Wanderers' final home game against Brentford, originally scheduled for 27 April, to be postponed. There were attempts to rearrange the fixture but, with the club unable to confirm that adequate safety provision would be in place, the English Football League awarded Brentford a 1-0 victory and added that Bolton were guilty of misconduct and will be disciplined.

The club is due back in the High Court on Wednesday over an unpaid £1.2m tax bill.

The case has already been adjourned on two occasions, the second time allowing Laurence Bassini five weeks to complete his takeover from Wanderers owner Ken Anderson.

A deal was announced on 17 April and Bassini told various media outlets on Friday that he is in control of Wanderers, despite a statement from Bolton a few hours earlier stating that they believed negotiations to be over as Bassini had not met the club's deadline to satisfy the EFL of his "proposed funding structure".

Relegation to the third tier was confirmed on 19 April and defeat by Forest meant Phil Parkinson's men ended the season with seven consecutive losses.

As for Forest, a campaign that began with them investing heavily to strengthen their playing squad has ended with them eight points below the play-off places, despite three straight wins to finish.

Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill:

"We have a lot of work to do. We have improved from last season, which is good news. We will look forward to next season, however. And we are remarkably upbeat. We have finished with three consecutive win.

"If I was taking the assessment following my 19 games in charge, it's roughly where we probably should be. We have not had the consistency this season, to be perfectly honest.

"The players and perhaps the supporters got caught up with Bolton's situation, as much as anything else. It was one of those afternoons,

"But, once we got the goal, I was hoping we would get the second. It would have been nice to have won more convincingly. I felt we were in command, without being explosive."

Bolton boss Phil Parkinson:

"Everyone is looking forward to this being resolved, so that we can all move forward. We have to move on, because Bolton is a terrific club. The club will be ready to come back stronger next season.

"I am very proud of the lads' performance. As everyone knows, we have had some very testing circumstances throughout the whole season but, in particular, over the last few months.

"It was tough to pick a team - we basically had the lads we selected there, in the 18. We had injuries and a couple of players put their notice in, while a few players who are out of contract this summer have offers elsewhere and did not want to put themselves at risk.

"I have been in football for 35 years and the things I have experienced in the last few years at Bolton have not been close to anything else I have experienced. It has been extraordinary at times. But the staff have stuck together and conducted themselves in a professional way every day."