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Neil Lennon says the better team won, as Bolton suffered a 3-0 defeat at all-but-promoted Bournemouth at the Goldsands Stadium on Monday evening.
Wanderers more than matched their south coast opponents in the first half, but conceded two quick-fire goals shortly before the interval.
Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie put the hosts two up, before Callum Wilson added a third midway through the second half.
Bolton ended the game with ten men, after Dorian Dervite was shown a straight red for hauling down Wilson, though Yann Kermorgant skied the result penalty.
“We were beaten by a better team,” Lennon said. “They are the benchmark for where we want to be in a year or two.
“It seems like we’re a long way off that at the minute, but we are missing some key players and we’ll have a lot of work to do in the summer in terms of the type of player we want to bring in.
“We were second best tonight for much of the game, although I thought Emile Heskey and Adam Bogdan were fantastic.
“I think we can perhaps look at this game in isolation, when you look at the teams we’ve played in and around the top four in the league. We’ve ran Middlesbrough, Norwich and Watford close in recent months, but tonight everything fell for Bournemouth.
“I felt for maybe the first 30 minutes or so, we did well, but once the first goal went in we lost our way a little bit.
“We need to get stronger, fitter and have a little more robustness about us. We need players that can still look fresh after 40-plus games a season.
“We know what we have to do – it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s been our thinking for the last six months since we walked in the door really.
“Our home form has been the one positive to take this season, so we want to finish on a high against Birmingham.
“I am disappointed with the performance tonight - yet again we’re a bit patched up, but I expected more from some players tonight.”
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Wanderers more than matched their south coast opponents in the first half, but conceded two quick-fire goals shortly before the interval.
Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie put the hosts two up, before Callum Wilson added a third midway through the second half.
Bolton ended the game with ten men, after Dorian Dervite was shown a straight red for hauling down Wilson, though Yann Kermorgant skied the result penalty.
“We were beaten by a better team,” Lennon said. “They are the benchmark for where we want to be in a year or two.
“It seems like we’re a long way off that at the minute, but we are missing some key players and we’ll have a lot of work to do in the summer in terms of the type of player we want to bring in.
“We were second best tonight for much of the game, although I thought Emile Heskey and Adam Bogdan were fantastic.
“I think we can perhaps look at this game in isolation, when you look at the teams we’ve played in and around the top four in the league. We’ve ran Middlesbrough, Norwich and Watford close in recent months, but tonight everything fell for Bournemouth.
“I felt for maybe the first 30 minutes or so, we did well, but once the first goal went in we lost our way a little bit.
“We need to get stronger, fitter and have a little more robustness about us. We need players that can still look fresh after 40-plus games a season.
“We know what we have to do – it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s been our thinking for the last six months since we walked in the door really.
“Our home form has been the one positive to take this season, so we want to finish on a high against Birmingham.
“I am disappointed with the performance tonight - yet again we’re a bit patched up, but I expected more from some players tonight.”
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