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Josh Sheehan is confident that Wanderers will be looking back on defeat to Cambridge United in a better place in a few weeks.
Acknowledging that Saturday’s performance had been well below par, the Welshman says the squad did not follow through with the gameplan they were given by Ian Evatt in the build-up.
So, when the Bolton boss produced some “choice words” in the dressing room at half time and after the final whistle, there could be few complaints from those involved.
“They were deserved, we weren’t up to it,” he said of the performance. “We didn’t deal with the threats we knew were coming. If you work on them in training and then it bites you in the backside, it’s worse than if you work on them, follow it through, and still get beat. And it cost us.
“But it is only one defeat out of five. We win against Burton and go from there.”
Wanderers will have a little longer to consider their next game, picked for televised coverage by Sky and shifted to Monday evening (September 6).
On the upside, it may give Evatt more time to work on some of the issues which cropped up at the Abbey Stadium.
“We knew were weren’t good enough, basically, there is no other way of putting it,” Sheehan said.
“We didn’t deal with their threats first half, we weren’t up for it. We knew how the game would go, that they would get behind the ball and frustrate us but giving away that cheap goal makes it so much harder.
“Second half we were a bit better but still not clinical or creative enough.
“Conceding the goal, and then we weren’t patient enough with the ball. We are about keeping the ball, keeping things ticking and then penetrating at the right time.
“In the final third as well, whether it was the final ball or the run wasn’t right, it didn’t click. We have to work on that through the week now.”
Wanderers had made several changes to the side in midweek as they exited the Carabao Cup at Wigan Athletic on penalties before switching back to the same team which had beaten Oxford. Sheehan, one of the few players who featured in both games, says the effect on performance was negligible.
“I wouldn’t say they affected the game,” he said. “We moved on from that (Wigan) game straight away, as we’ll move on from this one. We will be going into the Burton game for three points, simple as that.”
Wanderers had been gunning for a win at Cambridge which would have seen them break into the top six – and seal their best start to a season since getting promotion under Phil Parkinson in 2016/17.
Instead, they drop to 12th, a reasonable start in Sheehan’s view but one that could have been improved.
“It has been OK,” he said. “We should have beaten Wimbledon, definitely, and MK as well, but it is just the start, we will be better. I am sure next month we will look back and think this was the beginning.”
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