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Ian Evatt insists Wanderers will be doing all they can to treat today’s crunch clash with Crawley as just another game – despite it being anything but that.
The Whites head to the People’s Pension Stadium knowing victory will see them make an immediate return to League One after a campaign full of highs and lows in the fourth tier.
After last Saturday’s major disappointment against Exeter, Evatt’s men know another slip up – this time in front of the Sky Sports cameras – would consign them to the League Two play-offs and the uncertainty that comes with that.
Despite the stakes, the Bolton boss himself knows all about big games, as do some senior players in his squad.
So what will the message be to the younger or more inexperienced members of the dressing room in the run-up to kick-off this afternoon?
“All we can really say to them is we need to forget about what’s at stake, forget about what we can gain and what we can lose and just focus on the actual game itself,” Evatt said.
“Performing as an individual to your required role and
responsibility and also collectively implementing our gameplan on them.
“We’ve won many games since Christmas, we’ve won regularly, we’ve drawn occasionally and we’ve lost rarely.
“We have to make sure that loss on Saturday was a rare occurrence and we get back to winning ways.”
That all means the approach that has brought Wanderers so much success since a busy
winter transfer window remains the same after falling at the first hurdle against Exeter at the University of Bolton Stadium.
“We have to go about it the way we’ve won lots of games from January onwards in the same manner,” Evatt added.
“Grow into the game, hopefully dominate possession, hopefully control through possession and then take our chances when we create them.
“I don’t think we played very well second half on Saturday but we still had lots and lots of situations where we could have quite easily won the game.
“We didn’t so we have to learn from that and make sure we get back to our usual standards and win the game on Saturday.”
Evatt’s promotion with Barrow last season came with the National League season curtailed due to the pandemic and now he has a chance to get over the line in a more conventional manner, something which he was no stranger to during his playing days.
The same goes for captain Antoni Sarcevic, top scorer Eoin Doyle and others who will take to the field later today hoping to make sure the Whites’ fourth tier stay is a brief one.
“It obviously a big game and another chance to get a promotion,” the Wanderers boss said.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had many promotions in my football career and one as a manager very early on in my career.
“I’m used to these games and that’s what you’re in football for and then it’s just about the other lads being used to it.
“But we’ve got lots of lads that have been promoted and lots of younger ones that want that on their CV, so we’re fully focussed and we know what we have to do and we have to make sure we do the job on Saturday.”
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The Whites head to the People’s Pension Stadium knowing victory will see them make an immediate return to League One after a campaign full of highs and lows in the fourth tier.
After last Saturday’s major disappointment against Exeter, Evatt’s men know another slip up – this time in front of the Sky Sports cameras – would consign them to the League Two play-offs and the uncertainty that comes with that.
Despite the stakes, the Bolton boss himself knows all about big games, as do some senior players in his squad.
So what will the message be to the younger or more inexperienced members of the dressing room in the run-up to kick-off this afternoon?
“All we can really say to them is we need to forget about what’s at stake, forget about what we can gain and what we can lose and just focus on the actual game itself,” Evatt said.
“Performing as an individual to your required role and
responsibility and also collectively implementing our gameplan on them.
“We’ve won many games since Christmas, we’ve won regularly, we’ve drawn occasionally and we’ve lost rarely.
“We have to make sure that loss on Saturday was a rare occurrence and we get back to winning ways.”
That all means the approach that has brought Wanderers so much success since a busy
winter transfer window remains the same after falling at the first hurdle against Exeter at the University of Bolton Stadium.
“We have to go about it the way we’ve won lots of games from January onwards in the same manner,” Evatt added.
“Grow into the game, hopefully dominate possession, hopefully control through possession and then take our chances when we create them.
“I don’t think we played very well second half on Saturday but we still had lots and lots of situations where we could have quite easily won the game.
“We didn’t so we have to learn from that and make sure we get back to our usual standards and win the game on Saturday.”
Evatt’s promotion with Barrow last season came with the National League season curtailed due to the pandemic and now he has a chance to get over the line in a more conventional manner, something which he was no stranger to during his playing days.
The same goes for captain Antoni Sarcevic, top scorer Eoin Doyle and others who will take to the field later today hoping to make sure the Whites’ fourth tier stay is a brief one.
“It obviously a big game and another chance to get a promotion,” the Wanderers boss said.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had many promotions in my football career and one as a manager very early on in my career.
“I’m used to these games and that’s what you’re in football for and then it’s just about the other lads being used to it.
“But we’ve got lots of lads that have been promoted and lots of younger ones that want that on their CV, so we’re fully focussed and we know what we have to do and we have to make sure we do the job on Saturday.”
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