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Ricardo Santos sees no reason why Wanderers cannot build on last night’s penalty shootout win against Barnsley.
A thrilling win came courtesy of Joel Dixon’s save from Devante Cole and Josh Sheehan holding his nerve from the spot after Antoni Sarcevic, Lloyd Isgrove, Elias Kachunga and Amadou Bakayoko had done likewise before him.
Santos, who was making his first start of the season having been laid low by Covid and a foot injury, feels Bolton were well worth the win after getting to grips with their opponents in the second half of the game.
Now, he believes the result could act as a springboard for success on both league and cup fronts.
“Yeah, why not? The league is important, but a cup run? Why not?” he said.
“We went out there to win. We started a bit slow and tried to over-play.
“Obviously you want to play the way the gaffer wants us to, play out from the back, but sometimes you have just got to see what the game gives you.
“They left three v three at the back so once we started going long we started to get in.
“We were all over them in the second half and we deserved to win.”
Santos admits the pace of the first half caught him a little bit by surprise having missed the first league game of his Bolton career against MK Dons at the weekend.
But the centre-back, last season’s player of the year, is keen to get himself into contention for this Saturday’s trip to AFC Wimbledon.
“I am still not 100 per cent fit,” he said. “I know I can give more. But I am working on it every day and I am just happy to be back out there.”
Barnsley finished fifth in the Championship last season, losing in the play-offs against Swansea City after defying expectations.
The South Yorkshire side named a strong team at the UniBol and made Bolton defend early on. After passing the test with flying colours in the cup, Santos reckons the back four are strong enough to be successful in League One.
“We know we will come up against good teams, they are up here for a reason, but we believe in ourselves and know we can compete,” he said.
“On Saturday against MK Dons it was 50-50 possession but last year we were dominating.
“We are good enough; we just have to work hard and we will get our rewards.”
Santos also knows he will have a fight on his hands to get a starting spot at Wimbledon this weekend, with plenty of options in the centre of defence for Ian Evatt to consider.
“It is better for the players that there is competition,” he said. “You can’t be complacent and you have to work hard every day to prove to the gaffer that you should be playing.
“It is tough for everyone, me as well, because I have got George (Johnston), Baps (Alex Baptiste) and Will (Aimson), who is injured at the moment, so I have to graft every day to make sure I get in that squad.”
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