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Phil Parkinson wants his Wanderers to “get ruthless” and reclaim their place at the top of the League One table.
By the manager’s own frank admission, the Whites have lost their edge in the last few weeks as a series of draws descended into a first defeat at Walsall on Saturday, dropping them below Scunthorpe United into second.
That run of games also saw a bizarre sequence of refereeing decisions which have taken focus off the football and – reasons Parkinson – affected the focus within the camp.
But with his old club Bradford City in town this weekend, Parkinson has issued a challenge to his players to start a new unbeaten run and find a clinical edge in front of goal.
“I think our mentality has dipped just a little bit in the last few games and that’s something which can happen when you feel you haven’t been rewarded for your efforts,” he told The Bolton News.
“We can’t afford to dwell on things that haven’t gone our way. We need to regroup, be more ruthless in front of goal and start making more results our own.”
Although Saturday’s defeat at the Banks’s Stadium was actually the first time Wanderers have failed to find the net in the league this season, Parkinson accepts his side have been wasteful at times.
They have also experienced their fair share of misfortune, including a virtuoso second-half display from Saddlers’ keeper Neil Etheridge.
The Whites boss has been unable to call on his strongest strike-force for most of the season and will again be without the injured Max Clayton and Gary Madine plus the suspended Keshi Anderson against Bradford.
He is happy, however, that Wanderers are manufacturing chances, even if not enough of them are being put away.
“We’re creating lots of chances and working the goalkeepers – which is a positive sign – in fact, just below 50 per cent of the shots we put in against Walsall were on target, and that’s a good ratio. But you have to convert that into goals,” he said.
“We’ve moaned about one or two things in the last few games, and a couple of decisions, but we have to face facts; we need to be more ruthless when we are dominating games, as we have been.”
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By the manager’s own frank admission, the Whites have lost their edge in the last few weeks as a series of draws descended into a first defeat at Walsall on Saturday, dropping them below Scunthorpe United into second.
That run of games also saw a bizarre sequence of refereeing decisions which have taken focus off the football and – reasons Parkinson – affected the focus within the camp.
But with his old club Bradford City in town this weekend, Parkinson has issued a challenge to his players to start a new unbeaten run and find a clinical edge in front of goal.
“I think our mentality has dipped just a little bit in the last few games and that’s something which can happen when you feel you haven’t been rewarded for your efforts,” he told The Bolton News.
“We can’t afford to dwell on things that haven’t gone our way. We need to regroup, be more ruthless in front of goal and start making more results our own.”
Although Saturday’s defeat at the Banks’s Stadium was actually the first time Wanderers have failed to find the net in the league this season, Parkinson accepts his side have been wasteful at times.
They have also experienced their fair share of misfortune, including a virtuoso second-half display from Saddlers’ keeper Neil Etheridge.
The Whites boss has been unable to call on his strongest strike-force for most of the season and will again be without the injured Max Clayton and Gary Madine plus the suspended Keshi Anderson against Bradford.
He is happy, however, that Wanderers are manufacturing chances, even if not enough of them are being put away.
“We’re creating lots of chances and working the goalkeepers – which is a positive sign – in fact, just below 50 per cent of the shots we put in against Walsall were on target, and that’s a good ratio. But you have to convert that into goals,” he said.
“We’ve moaned about one or two things in the last few games, and a couple of decisions, but we have to face facts; we need to be more ruthless when we are dominating games, as we have been.”
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