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Daryl Murphy didn’t hold back with his blunt assessment of Wanderers’ midweek draw against Bristol Rovers, admitting: “It was nowhere near good enough.”
The Irishman rescued a point for the Whites with an 82nd minute header but conceded that the performance on the night was not up to scratch.
Bolton managed just two shots on target all night – and Murphy felt a good opportunity had passed them by.
“We were nowhere near as good as we can be,” he said. “It’s not a happy changing room because we didn’t play as well as we can, I just think overall it was quite sloppy.
“The only good thing you can say came out of that was the point. In parts it was okay, but you are always going to get spells where you have some decent possession, and we did create a couple of chances, but it wasn’t enough for our liking.
“We are at home and need to be taking it to them and we didn’t do that.”
Bolton’s home form this season has actually been better than three other clubs in League One – Southend United, Rochdale and Tranmere Rovers – but they have now taken just two points from the last four games and lost further ground on those above them in the table.
Murphy is at a loss to explain the nerves which were evident on Tuesday night and feels the players who are fit and ready to play should be collecting more points.
“There should be no problem,” he told The Bolton News. “Everyone else is expecting us to lose every week in the position we’re in, so in that sense there should be no pressure on us at all.
“We should be able to go out and relax a bit but for whatever reason we haven’t been doing it and we certainly didn’t there.
“We have got talented players and they show that in training every day but for whatever reason it isn’t happening at the moment and we need to sort it.”
The gap between Bolton and MK Dons now 20 points, it is going to take a turnaround of epic proportion if the Whites are to survive in League One this season.
Murphy is equally realistic but feels every player has his own incentive to see the season out correctly.
“I knew it when I came in here it was going to be tough, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “I don’t know about the other lads but, for me, I wanted to take the challenge on. Of course it’s a long way back now but you don’t just give up halfway through.”
Wanderers host Tranmere on Saturday with a win badly needed to lift morale, if not to salvage any slim hopes of survival. And Murphy hopes the team can produce something more watchable than they managed against Rovers.
“There’s another home game Saturday and it’s those games that we need to be winning, making more of it,” he said.
“I think we need to be more positive in our play and express ourselves really, that’s the most disappointing thing really because we have some very good players and you see it every day in training but for whatever reason we were just a bit sloppy when it came to decision-making and passing, so that’s something we need to get right.
“We will always get chances in games with the players we have, it’s just taking them.”
Murphy moved his own goalscoring tally on to eight goals for the season and has designs on getting into double figures for the first time in four years.
He took little joy from his header against Rovers, however, and hopes his goals can be more conclusive in the future.
"You always like scoring a goal but, for me, I would prefer them to be winners," he said. "I'm having a bit of a hard time celebrating that one because we needed more than a point.
"I said when I came here I wanted to score goals and get games, and I'm doing that, but I really think we should be picking up more points, especially from a game like that."
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The Irishman rescued a point for the Whites with an 82nd minute header but conceded that the performance on the night was not up to scratch.
Bolton managed just two shots on target all night – and Murphy felt a good opportunity had passed them by.
“We were nowhere near as good as we can be,” he said. “It’s not a happy changing room because we didn’t play as well as we can, I just think overall it was quite sloppy.
“The only good thing you can say came out of that was the point. In parts it was okay, but you are always going to get spells where you have some decent possession, and we did create a couple of chances, but it wasn’t enough for our liking.
“We are at home and need to be taking it to them and we didn’t do that.”
Bolton’s home form this season has actually been better than three other clubs in League One – Southend United, Rochdale and Tranmere Rovers – but they have now taken just two points from the last four games and lost further ground on those above them in the table.
Murphy is at a loss to explain the nerves which were evident on Tuesday night and feels the players who are fit and ready to play should be collecting more points.
“There should be no problem,” he told The Bolton News. “Everyone else is expecting us to lose every week in the position we’re in, so in that sense there should be no pressure on us at all.
“We should be able to go out and relax a bit but for whatever reason we haven’t been doing it and we certainly didn’t there.
“We have got talented players and they show that in training every day but for whatever reason it isn’t happening at the moment and we need to sort it.”
The gap between Bolton and MK Dons now 20 points, it is going to take a turnaround of epic proportion if the Whites are to survive in League One this season.
Murphy is equally realistic but feels every player has his own incentive to see the season out correctly.
“I knew it when I came in here it was going to be tough, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “I don’t know about the other lads but, for me, I wanted to take the challenge on. Of course it’s a long way back now but you don’t just give up halfway through.”
Wanderers host Tranmere on Saturday with a win badly needed to lift morale, if not to salvage any slim hopes of survival. And Murphy hopes the team can produce something more watchable than they managed against Rovers.
“There’s another home game Saturday and it’s those games that we need to be winning, making more of it,” he said.
“I think we need to be more positive in our play and express ourselves really, that’s the most disappointing thing really because we have some very good players and you see it every day in training but for whatever reason we were just a bit sloppy when it came to decision-making and passing, so that’s something we need to get right.
“We will always get chances in games with the players we have, it’s just taking them.”
Murphy moved his own goalscoring tally on to eight goals for the season and has designs on getting into double figures for the first time in four years.
He took little joy from his header against Rovers, however, and hopes his goals can be more conclusive in the future.
"You always like scoring a goal but, for me, I would prefer them to be winners," he said. "I'm having a bit of a hard time celebrating that one because we needed more than a point.
"I said when I came here I wanted to score goals and get games, and I'm doing that, but I really think we should be picking up more points, especially from a game like that."
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