Home
Should Wanderers fail to avoid relegation to League One this term, it will not be due to a lack of fight.
That is the view of Steve Parkin, who insists the Bolton squad continues to give themselves a fighting chance with a succession of honest performances.
Frustratingly, the Whites have been contenders in all but one outing, the New Year’s Day drubbing at Hull City, but the assistant manager feels their battling spirit, coupled with eliminating vital lapses in focus, could be their key to survival.
“We’ve got to keep working hard at it and making sure we keep drumming into the players – as we show them the videos – they make sure that they know these little things, the fine dividing lines, at this level are so big,” he said.
“We’ve got to try to put it right and make sure we keep solid as a club, we keep backing each other up.
“Whatever team we put out on the pitch we know it’s going to fight and scrap.
“We know we’ve not got the best players, and that’s not being disrespectful to them in any way, shape or form, we haven’t got the funds to go out and buy whoever we want. But what we have got is good morale and a good spirit, they’re a good set of lads.
“So as a club we’ve got to stick together and get through the game tomorrow night then look forward and prepare for our ‘mini-league’ as it were, starting with Reading on Tuesday night.”
Wanderers created precious few goal-scoring chances during Monday night’s defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies, third in the table, avenged an opening-day win for Phil Parkinson’s side with a 2-0 victory, but Parkin believes he saw enough from the players to suggest there is hope the Whites can yet play their way out of trouble, if only they can find a cutting edge when the openings do present themselves.
“When you watch the game back we did lots of good things,” said Parkin.
“There were minimal chances for both teams, we were disappointed with the first goal, it’s a foul we could have avoided and we could maybe have dealt with it better but he couldn’t have headed it anywhere else, it was perfect for him to just drop it in the net.
“The second goal we were disappointed initially but when you watch it back it’s a great dummy from [Dwight]Gayle, but we limited a very good team, one that’s expected to get back in the Premier League, to limited chances.
“While we didn’t have many we worked their keeper a couple of times with Sammy [Ameobi]and Lowey {Jason Lowe] so we were disappointed with the result at the end of it but in general the lads were good.”
Although a bout of sickness laid low Jonathan Grounds the squad had a clean bill of health as they headed into tonight’s fourth-round tie.
Source
That is the view of Steve Parkin, who insists the Bolton squad continues to give themselves a fighting chance with a succession of honest performances.
Frustratingly, the Whites have been contenders in all but one outing, the New Year’s Day drubbing at Hull City, but the assistant manager feels their battling spirit, coupled with eliminating vital lapses in focus, could be their key to survival.
“We’ve got to keep working hard at it and making sure we keep drumming into the players – as we show them the videos – they make sure that they know these little things, the fine dividing lines, at this level are so big,” he said.
“We’ve got to try to put it right and make sure we keep solid as a club, we keep backing each other up.
“Whatever team we put out on the pitch we know it’s going to fight and scrap.
“We know we’ve not got the best players, and that’s not being disrespectful to them in any way, shape or form, we haven’t got the funds to go out and buy whoever we want. But what we have got is good morale and a good spirit, they’re a good set of lads.
“So as a club we’ve got to stick together and get through the game tomorrow night then look forward and prepare for our ‘mini-league’ as it were, starting with Reading on Tuesday night.”
Wanderers created precious few goal-scoring chances during Monday night’s defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies, third in the table, avenged an opening-day win for Phil Parkinson’s side with a 2-0 victory, but Parkin believes he saw enough from the players to suggest there is hope the Whites can yet play their way out of trouble, if only they can find a cutting edge when the openings do present themselves.
“When you watch the game back we did lots of good things,” said Parkin.
“There were minimal chances for both teams, we were disappointed with the first goal, it’s a foul we could have avoided and we could maybe have dealt with it better but he couldn’t have headed it anywhere else, it was perfect for him to just drop it in the net.
“The second goal we were disappointed initially but when you watch it back it’s a great dummy from [Dwight]Gayle, but we limited a very good team, one that’s expected to get back in the Premier League, to limited chances.
“While we didn’t have many we worked their keeper a couple of times with Sammy [Ameobi]and Lowey {Jason Lowe] so we were disappointed with the result at the end of it but in general the lads were good.”
Although a bout of sickness laid low Jonathan Grounds the squad had a clean bill of health as they headed into tonight’s fourth-round tie.
Source