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Ian Evatt has warned League Two that his in-form Wanderers are still not playing in top gear.
The Whites roared to a 2-0 win against 10-man Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park to move sixth in the table, recording a sixth straight league win for the first time since September 2000.
After swatting aside the Latics, Bolton travel to another of the division’s in-form sides this weekend in Bradford City but Evatt believes his team are not yet playing at anything like their best.
“We want more, we’re hungry for more,” he said. “It was a clinical performance. First half we were excellent, second half it became false and we end up making crazy decisions just because it became a bit easy. But it’s an excellent three points because they are a decent team with some good attacking players.
“I think the back lads, Kieran and MJ are playing out of their skin at the moment but it’s because of the control we have in the game.
“Second half I wanted the lads to enjoy it a bit more and maybe get a few more goals. We had the opportunity but made some bad decisions and got a bit selfish in the final third but other than that we’ll move on to Saturday.
“We wanted to be in this position but there’s a long way to go, 14 games, and things can turn quickly. We will keep putting in the hard yards but the pleasing thing for me is that I feel like we have got another gear, another level. This team is only five or six weeks old, this was all put together in January and there is still loads more to come from them.”
Wanderers have gone from 19th to sixth in just five weeks – but Evatt feels the improvement started slightly earlier towards the start of the year.
“I must say, even in that poor run, performances were better than results maybe warranted,” he said. “It was starting to come. The second half against Crawley where we could have scored seven or eight was a real turning point for us.
“The change of system helped and getting improved personnel in January has certainly helped us. But we have lots of work to do. There’s another level there and we’ll work to get that out of the players.”
Oldham’s Kyle Jameson was sent off after half an hour with the score at 1-0 to Wanderers for a lunging challenge on Nathan Delfouneso.
Evatt believes referee Scott Oldham got the decision correct.
“I thought there was a lunge just before it, which was reckless, and you can’t tackle off your feet like that any more,” he said. “Ten years ago, 15 years ago, it would probably have been a good tackle but you can’t do it any more, it can cause serious injury when you are running at that speed and leave the floor.
“To be honest, we have been on the rough end of those decisions recently but I don’t think it had a major bearing on the game, in fact I think it made it harder for us. We had full control and kind of took the foot off the gas.”
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The Whites roared to a 2-0 win against 10-man Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park to move sixth in the table, recording a sixth straight league win for the first time since September 2000.
After swatting aside the Latics, Bolton travel to another of the division’s in-form sides this weekend in Bradford City but Evatt believes his team are not yet playing at anything like their best.
“We want more, we’re hungry for more,” he said. “It was a clinical performance. First half we were excellent, second half it became false and we end up making crazy decisions just because it became a bit easy. But it’s an excellent three points because they are a decent team with some good attacking players.
“I think the back lads, Kieran and MJ are playing out of their skin at the moment but it’s because of the control we have in the game.
“Second half I wanted the lads to enjoy it a bit more and maybe get a few more goals. We had the opportunity but made some bad decisions and got a bit selfish in the final third but other than that we’ll move on to Saturday.
“We wanted to be in this position but there’s a long way to go, 14 games, and things can turn quickly. We will keep putting in the hard yards but the pleasing thing for me is that I feel like we have got another gear, another level. This team is only five or six weeks old, this was all put together in January and there is still loads more to come from them.”
Wanderers have gone from 19th to sixth in just five weeks – but Evatt feels the improvement started slightly earlier towards the start of the year.
“I must say, even in that poor run, performances were better than results maybe warranted,” he said. “It was starting to come. The second half against Crawley where we could have scored seven or eight was a real turning point for us.
“The change of system helped and getting improved personnel in January has certainly helped us. But we have lots of work to do. There’s another level there and we’ll work to get that out of the players.”
Oldham’s Kyle Jameson was sent off after half an hour with the score at 1-0 to Wanderers for a lunging challenge on Nathan Delfouneso.
Evatt believes referee Scott Oldham got the decision correct.
“I thought there was a lunge just before it, which was reckless, and you can’t tackle off your feet like that any more,” he said. “Ten years ago, 15 years ago, it would probably have been a good tackle but you can’t do it any more, it can cause serious injury when you are running at that speed and leave the floor.
“To be honest, we have been on the rough end of those decisions recently but I don’t think it had a major bearing on the game, in fact I think it made it harder for us. We had full control and kind of took the foot off the gas.”
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