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Neil Lennon says his players dug in and won ugly, after Bolton’s secured three points against Rotherham United at Macron Stadium.
Substitute Kaiyne Woolery netted a winner deep into stoppage time, after Jay Spearing’s early goal had been cancelled out by Chris Burke.
And after the match the manager acknowledged that his side had played better this season and lost games.
“I didn’t think it was a great performances today,” Lennon said in his post-match press conference. “I felt we played better on Tuesday at Wolves. That said, it is a massive win for us.
“We got off to a good start but then struggled. The other night at Wolves when we were two goals down and chasing the game the shackles were off and we played with a real freedom. The opposite happened today and there was a nervousness about us when we went a goal up.
“I did think that we had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed when Welllington Silva put the ball in the net. That would have allowed us a bit more breathing space.
“It was tense all afternoon. After Rotherham’s equaliser I felt they were the better side for much of the second half. We had to mix things up and thankfully that paid off.
“Kaiyne is very raw, but he gives us an out ball at times. We knew Emile wouldn’t last the full 90 minutes and Kaiyne has come on and taken his chance.
“To dig in and win ugly is something we haven’t done for a long time now. Psychologically, it’ll give everyone a lift. We’re in there fighting and the players are digging in for the cause right now.
“We know we’ve got a mountain of work ahead of us, but we could have been cast adrift a few weeks ago but now we’re right back in it.”
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Substitute Kaiyne Woolery netted a winner deep into stoppage time, after Jay Spearing’s early goal had been cancelled out by Chris Burke.
And after the match the manager acknowledged that his side had played better this season and lost games.
“I didn’t think it was a great performances today,” Lennon said in his post-match press conference. “I felt we played better on Tuesday at Wolves. That said, it is a massive win for us.
“We got off to a good start but then struggled. The other night at Wolves when we were two goals down and chasing the game the shackles were off and we played with a real freedom. The opposite happened today and there was a nervousness about us when we went a goal up.
“I did think that we had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed when Welllington Silva put the ball in the net. That would have allowed us a bit more breathing space.
“It was tense all afternoon. After Rotherham’s equaliser I felt they were the better side for much of the second half. We had to mix things up and thankfully that paid off.
“Kaiyne is very raw, but he gives us an out ball at times. We knew Emile wouldn’t last the full 90 minutes and Kaiyne has come on and taken his chance.
“To dig in and win ugly is something we haven’t done for a long time now. Psychologically, it’ll give everyone a lift. We’re in there fighting and the players are digging in for the cause right now.
“We know we’ve got a mountain of work ahead of us, but we could have been cast adrift a few weeks ago but now we’re right back in it.”
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