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Eoin Doyle has former club Bradford City in his sights as he aims for the next goalscoring milestone at Wanderers.
While the Irishman is reluctant to share his target for the season, he moved into exalted company on Tuesday night as he surpassed the likes of Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, Stelios and Kevin Nolan to become the first Bolton player since 2002 to score more than 12 in a single campaign.
Doyle shrugged off any personal accolades after netting in a convincing 2-0 win which propelled the Whites into the top six.
But he is happy to discuss a common aim in the dressing room – and that is to extend the winning run to seven games when the club travels to Valley Parade this weekend.
“That’s probably the best sentence I have ever heard in my life, that,” he grinned, when told which former Wanderers had been marooned on a dozen goals.
“Of course it’s good. But it’s down to the lads. I’m more of a poacher so there hasn’t been any magical goals, they’ve been more tap-ins.
“I set targets but I won’t tell you what they are. You can’t guess either because my eyes will give it away. I’m a terrible liar. I haven’t got a poker face.
“All I’ll say is that 13 probably should have come sooner, and hopefully there are plenty more to come. We can’t get carried away, it’s just about the next game and winning that one.”
Doyle has scored two in his last three games but admits even his own form has been up and down in what has become a most unpredictable promotion race.
Only Manchester City have a longer winning streak than Bolton in English football right now and having sampled some difficult times in League Two since his arrival last summer, the 32-year-old knows which atmosphere he prefers.
“I’ve been here since day one, I suppose,” Doyle said. “It has been a mad season. The first half was c**p and the second half seems to be getting better.
“I’d just like to stay consistent now and keep going.
“It really is a great dressing room at the moment, enjoyable to be around. Everyone is chipping in now and there’s proper strength in depth. We’re all trying to play a part and we’re happy when anyone scores.
“We’re confident going into games and we genuinely believe we can win every one. But it’s the old cliché about one at a time – there’s no point crowing about it. Stay grounded, go about things quietly, that’s the way.”
Although Doyle featured in the EFL Cup game between the two clubs back in August he missed out on Wanderers’ 1-0 win at the UniBol through injury.
The striker struggled to win over Bantams fans as the club dropped out of League One in 2019 and despite finishing as the club’s top scorer he was loaned out to Swindon the following year, rejuvenating his career at the County Ground.
Doyle has no hard feelings about the way it ended on the other side of the Pennines – but still believes the club failed to get the best out of him.
“They played me as a target man and I don’t like heading the ball. It was as simple as that,” he laughed, when asked what went wrong. “I have got a lot of friends still there and there’s a good bunch of lads but for me, personally, it wasn’t a great time on the pitch.
“I did enjoy my time at Bradford and they are definitely a good club, so if both of us went up it’d be ideal for me.”
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While the Irishman is reluctant to share his target for the season, he moved into exalted company on Tuesday night as he surpassed the likes of Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, Stelios and Kevin Nolan to become the first Bolton player since 2002 to score more than 12 in a single campaign.
Doyle shrugged off any personal accolades after netting in a convincing 2-0 win which propelled the Whites into the top six.
But he is happy to discuss a common aim in the dressing room – and that is to extend the winning run to seven games when the club travels to Valley Parade this weekend.
“That’s probably the best sentence I have ever heard in my life, that,” he grinned, when told which former Wanderers had been marooned on a dozen goals.
“Of course it’s good. But it’s down to the lads. I’m more of a poacher so there hasn’t been any magical goals, they’ve been more tap-ins.
“I set targets but I won’t tell you what they are. You can’t guess either because my eyes will give it away. I’m a terrible liar. I haven’t got a poker face.
“All I’ll say is that 13 probably should have come sooner, and hopefully there are plenty more to come. We can’t get carried away, it’s just about the next game and winning that one.”
Doyle has scored two in his last three games but admits even his own form has been up and down in what has become a most unpredictable promotion race.
Only Manchester City have a longer winning streak than Bolton in English football right now and having sampled some difficult times in League Two since his arrival last summer, the 32-year-old knows which atmosphere he prefers.
“I’ve been here since day one, I suppose,” Doyle said. “It has been a mad season. The first half was c**p and the second half seems to be getting better.
“I’d just like to stay consistent now and keep going.
“It really is a great dressing room at the moment, enjoyable to be around. Everyone is chipping in now and there’s proper strength in depth. We’re all trying to play a part and we’re happy when anyone scores.
“We’re confident going into games and we genuinely believe we can win every one. But it’s the old cliché about one at a time – there’s no point crowing about it. Stay grounded, go about things quietly, that’s the way.”
Although Doyle featured in the EFL Cup game between the two clubs back in August he missed out on Wanderers’ 1-0 win at the UniBol through injury.
The striker struggled to win over Bantams fans as the club dropped out of League One in 2019 and despite finishing as the club’s top scorer he was loaned out to Swindon the following year, rejuvenating his career at the County Ground.
Doyle has no hard feelings about the way it ended on the other side of the Pennines – but still believes the club failed to get the best out of him.
“They played me as a target man and I don’t like heading the ball. It was as simple as that,” he laughed, when asked what went wrong. “I have got a lot of friends still there and there’s a good bunch of lads but for me, personally, it wasn’t a great time on the pitch.
“I did enjoy my time at Bradford and they are definitely a good club, so if both of us went up it’d be ideal for me.”
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