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Ben Alnwick has targeted a top two place for Wanderers by the turn of 2017.
Home games against Shrewsbury Town on Boxing Day and League One leaders Scunthorpe United on New Year’s Eve lie in wait for Phil Parkinson’s side, who currently sit a point behind Sheffield United in third.
Alnwick admits defeat on Saturday at Chesterfield came as a shock to the system for the Whites, who had won 12 of their previous 14.
But the goalkeeper is confident it will not put a major dent in their chances of finishing the year in the automatic promotion spots.
“It’s still all to play for,” he told The Bolton News. “We’re a point off automatic so we’re still fighting hard.
“We’re strong at home so if we can get six points out of the next two games we should be back on track, hopefully back in that top two.
“I wouldn’t look past Shrewsbury but we know Scunthorpe are coming up and that it will be a big game, with us both being up the top of the table, but I don’t think we should fear anyone. I think we can win both games.”
Alnwick has kept five clean sheets from nine outings since coming into the team for the injured Mark Howard – but arrived in the team as they recovered from a disappointing performance at his former club Peterborough.
The squad’s response to that defeat makes the 29-year-old stopper more confident they can bounce back quickly from Saturday’s setback.
“The way the team came back from that result was first class,” he said. “Some teams might have shied away after a result like that in front of the TV cameras but we didn’t. We have got a strong, solid back four and we’ve got a will to win every game.
“One result won’t affect that and so we’ll go into the Shrewsbury game exactly the same, shrug off the disappointment and go again.”
Alnwick reckons it will be business as usual at Lostock over Christmas.
Players return today to start preparing for the Shrewsbury game just as they would at any other time of year.
“The gaffer and the staff get it bang on here,” he said. “That couple of days to sort your head out – but then we treat is as a normal week.”
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Home games against Shrewsbury Town on Boxing Day and League One leaders Scunthorpe United on New Year’s Eve lie in wait for Phil Parkinson’s side, who currently sit a point behind Sheffield United in third.
Alnwick admits defeat on Saturday at Chesterfield came as a shock to the system for the Whites, who had won 12 of their previous 14.
But the goalkeeper is confident it will not put a major dent in their chances of finishing the year in the automatic promotion spots.
“It’s still all to play for,” he told The Bolton News. “We’re a point off automatic so we’re still fighting hard.
“We’re strong at home so if we can get six points out of the next two games we should be back on track, hopefully back in that top two.
“I wouldn’t look past Shrewsbury but we know Scunthorpe are coming up and that it will be a big game, with us both being up the top of the table, but I don’t think we should fear anyone. I think we can win both games.”
Alnwick has kept five clean sheets from nine outings since coming into the team for the injured Mark Howard – but arrived in the team as they recovered from a disappointing performance at his former club Peterborough.
The squad’s response to that defeat makes the 29-year-old stopper more confident they can bounce back quickly from Saturday’s setback.
“The way the team came back from that result was first class,” he said. “Some teams might have shied away after a result like that in front of the TV cameras but we didn’t. We have got a strong, solid back four and we’ve got a will to win every game.
“One result won’t affect that and so we’ll go into the Shrewsbury game exactly the same, shrug off the disappointment and go again.”
Alnwick reckons it will be business as usual at Lostock over Christmas.
Players return today to start preparing for the Shrewsbury game just as they would at any other time of year.
“The gaffer and the staff get it bang on here,” he said. “That couple of days to sort your head out – but then we treat is as a normal week.”
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