The January signing from Middlesbrough won a first-half penalty after being brought down by Paul Robinson and was a menace to the Bolton defence with his direct running on the night.

Carlos Tevez converted the spot-kick and Emmanuel Adebayor lashed in the second to claim a 2-0 win against Bolton.

"That is why we bought him," Mancini said of Johnson.

"He is a young player who wants to do well. He can play on both the left and the right and he can also play behind the main striker.

"He can continue to grow and I think he can be a very important player for this club."

big scores

Vincent Kompany was part of a City back-line that kept a clean sheet and he has been one of the club's influential performers defensively this season.

The Belgian was pleased with the result against the Trotters and dismissed suggestions that City should be scoring more goals against sides threatened by relegation.

"People who think we should be knocking big scores past sides fighting for their lives are misled and maybe should remember where the club was a couple of years ago," he told City's official website.

"I think the fans should be fairly happy with the way things are going at the moment. We are equal fourth with Liverpool and there has been another clean sheet for us and there is nothing much to complain about. Tonight was a very good result for us."

www.mcfc.co.uk