 He made a total of 21 appearances in the 1992–93 season for Bolton, who finished the season as runners-up and secured promotion to Division One.Bolton were FA Cup quarter-finalists in the 1993–94 season and achieved a comfortable position in Division One, but it was the 1994–95 season which proved most memorable, as Bolton reached the final of the Football League Cup (their first appearance in a major cup final for 37 years), but lost 2–1 to Liverpool.McAteer and his colleagues returned to Wembley the following month on 29 May 1995, as they reached the final of the Division One playoffs having finished third in the league.