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Ian Evatt revealed that he nearly missed Wanderers’ 2-1 win against Harrogate after abandoning his car in a snowstorm on the way into the game.
The Bolton boss was snarled up by the weather on his way to the game on Saturday morning and forced to flag down a local farmer to make sure he did not miss kick-off.
Wanderers made it worth his while as they came back from a goal down to return to the automatic promotion places with goals from Kieran Lee and Eoin Doyle.
A relieved and frostbitten Bolton boss told us after the game: “You wouldn’t believe the day I have had,” he said. “Driving here from my house in Chesterfield I came over the top from my house in Chesterfield into Disley and basically drove into a snow globe. I had to abandon my car because I was snowed in.
“Fortunately I managed to flag a driver down who had a Landrover Defender – it was also his birthday, so thank you Paul, and he managed to drive me here to get me here on time.
“It was a crazy, crazy day, a crazy game, but thankfully three points.
“Weirdly, the guy texted me afterwards to say all the snow had gone by the time he got home.
“If anyone sees a Kia, make sure you look after it because I will need it to get home.”
Evatt usually gets to the stadium at around 11am but thanks to the Good Samaritan managed to arrive by 1.30pm to give his team talk.
But he admitted the journey was a close-run thing.
“We jumped in his van, he was on his way to work and he lived in a farm two minutes away,” he said. “Then the van got stuck so we abandoned it, went to his farm and he picked up his defender 4X4 and managed to plough his way through the snow.
“It was a five-mile radius and once we’d got out of it there was no snow. It was crazy.”
Evatt admitted Wanderers' first half performance was poor and that his decision to bring Marcus Maddison in from the start had proved the wrong one.
"It was a game of two halves, the old cliche," he said. "Wether it was a hangover from Monday and we were feeling sorry for ourselves, I don't know, but we weren't at our standards.
"Harrogate are renowned for being fast starters. I saw a lot of them down the years at Barrow and the first half an hour is always key.
"We didn't weather the storm, we got rattled, and we weren't our usual selves.
"Thank goodness for half time. It gave me an opportunity to tell a few home truths and change a few things, tactically.
"Second half we had courage, drive, desire and we came backk again to win a very important game."
Maddison was substituted at half time with George Thomason brought on as the spare midfield player, a change which altered the complexion of the game.
"For whatever reason we struggled to find the extra midfield player and Marcus suffered because of it," said Evatt, whose side went behind to Gethin Jones's own goal.
"We are here to win and I thought George, an extra body in there who could build attacks better and see off their press would work.
"Fair play, they had a go at us, but we managed to pick our way through second half, which was a lot more pleasing."
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The Bolton boss was snarled up by the weather on his way to the game on Saturday morning and forced to flag down a local farmer to make sure he did not miss kick-off.
Wanderers made it worth his while as they came back from a goal down to return to the automatic promotion places with goals from Kieran Lee and Eoin Doyle.
A relieved and frostbitten Bolton boss told us after the game: “You wouldn’t believe the day I have had,” he said. “Driving here from my house in Chesterfield I came over the top from my house in Chesterfield into Disley and basically drove into a snow globe. I had to abandon my car because I was snowed in.
“Fortunately I managed to flag a driver down who had a Landrover Defender – it was also his birthday, so thank you Paul, and he managed to drive me here to get me here on time.
“It was a crazy, crazy day, a crazy game, but thankfully three points.
“Weirdly, the guy texted me afterwards to say all the snow had gone by the time he got home.
“If anyone sees a Kia, make sure you look after it because I will need it to get home.”
Evatt usually gets to the stadium at around 11am but thanks to the Good Samaritan managed to arrive by 1.30pm to give his team talk.
But he admitted the journey was a close-run thing.
“We jumped in his van, he was on his way to work and he lived in a farm two minutes away,” he said. “Then the van got stuck so we abandoned it, went to his farm and he picked up his defender 4X4 and managed to plough his way through the snow.
“It was a five-mile radius and once we’d got out of it there was no snow. It was crazy.”
Evatt admitted Wanderers' first half performance was poor and that his decision to bring Marcus Maddison in from the start had proved the wrong one.
"It was a game of two halves, the old cliche," he said. "Wether it was a hangover from Monday and we were feeling sorry for ourselves, I don't know, but we weren't at our standards.
"Harrogate are renowned for being fast starters. I saw a lot of them down the years at Barrow and the first half an hour is always key.
"We didn't weather the storm, we got rattled, and we weren't our usual selves.
"Thank goodness for half time. It gave me an opportunity to tell a few home truths and change a few things, tactically.
"Second half we had courage, drive, desire and we came backk again to win a very important game."
Maddison was substituted at half time with George Thomason brought on as the spare midfield player, a change which altered the complexion of the game.
"For whatever reason we struggled to find the extra midfield player and Marcus suffered because of it," said Evatt, whose side went behind to Gethin Jones's own goal.
"We are here to win and I thought George, an extra body in there who could build attacks better and see off their press would work.
"Fair play, they had a go at us, but we managed to pick our way through second half, which was a lot more pleasing."
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