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Keith Hill is counting the cost of Wanderers’ FA Cup disappointment against Plymouth.
The Bolton boss was hoping for a cup run to boost his transfer budget for January and next summer – but could only watch as his team was beaten by the League Two Pilgrims.
Wanderers have not exited the cup at the first-round stage since 1989 and while the battle against relegation takes precedence in Hill’s mind, the potential financial benefits of a run in the competition were hard to ignore.
“I’m disappointed to be out of the FA Cup, I wanted to be in that next round,” he told The Bolton News. “It could have been a big money spinner for the club, and that’s a concern for me.
“But from being knocked out of the competition it bears no consequence on the rest of our season – that’s from my management position.
“In a nutshell, the league is the priority but it will be interesting to see how the players react because I think they know the performance levels have not been good.”
Hill felt the defeat had to be put into context, a rare blip in what had been a consistent run of performances in the league and Leasing.com Trophy – a competition which may now take on some added significance.
But with a big league game against MK Dons on the horizon, Hill hopes the result will be an isolated disappointment.
“Hopefully losing this game is a tidy reminder to the players of how good they have to be, how responsible they have to be for their own personal performances,” he said.
“There are question marks and if you’re a winner you answer them, it’s as simple as that.
“We were on a mini-run but I was always looking at the performances, which then create results. I know why we got beat by Plymouth – our performance wasn’t good enough. It has been good over the course of several weeks. Cancelling out the Rotherham game the performance levels have warranted more – Oxford, Sunderland, Portsmouth, for example.
“They have been good and including the Rotherham game there was a lot of heart and spirit. But that was a difficult one, I can’t explain it.
“I don’t want to over-react. If there’s a time to have a go, I will, but I don’t think this is the time.”
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The Bolton boss was hoping for a cup run to boost his transfer budget for January and next summer – but could only watch as his team was beaten by the League Two Pilgrims.
Wanderers have not exited the cup at the first-round stage since 1989 and while the battle against relegation takes precedence in Hill’s mind, the potential financial benefits of a run in the competition were hard to ignore.
“I’m disappointed to be out of the FA Cup, I wanted to be in that next round,” he told The Bolton News. “It could have been a big money spinner for the club, and that’s a concern for me.
“But from being knocked out of the competition it bears no consequence on the rest of our season – that’s from my management position.
“In a nutshell, the league is the priority but it will be interesting to see how the players react because I think they know the performance levels have not been good.”
Hill felt the defeat had to be put into context, a rare blip in what had been a consistent run of performances in the league and Leasing.com Trophy – a competition which may now take on some added significance.
But with a big league game against MK Dons on the horizon, Hill hopes the result will be an isolated disappointment.
“Hopefully losing this game is a tidy reminder to the players of how good they have to be, how responsible they have to be for their own personal performances,” he said.
“There are question marks and if you’re a winner you answer them, it’s as simple as that.
“We were on a mini-run but I was always looking at the performances, which then create results. I know why we got beat by Plymouth – our performance wasn’t good enough. It has been good over the course of several weeks. Cancelling out the Rotherham game the performance levels have warranted more – Oxford, Sunderland, Portsmouth, for example.
“They have been good and including the Rotherham game there was a lot of heart and spirit. But that was a difficult one, I can’t explain it.
“I don’t want to over-react. If there’s a time to have a go, I will, but I don’t think this is the time.”
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