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MJ Williams has urged Wanderers to brush off any negativity associated with defeat to Rotherham United and get on with the job.
Pride was stung by the Millers on Saturday as a packed house of more than 20,000 turned up at the UniBol to witness a frustrating afternoon in front of goal.
Ben Wiles’ first-half double dampened the party mood on Family Fun Day but Williams insists there was more in the performance to be happy about.
“We are a team that looks at itself and if we are not good enough, we’ll tell each other,” he told The Bolton News.
“You can go away from that game and look at the negatives but there were positive things – we dominated the ball, we created four or five good chances.
“Football is like that, you’ll get the highs of Ipswich and now the lows against Rotherham, fans might go and have a little moan, but we just have to stick together really and look forward to Sunderland.”
Wanderers had chances in the first half, picking their way around Rotherham’s man-for-man press, but struggled to exert the same authority later on in the game as the visitors sat deeper and protected their lead.
Williams believes that Wanderers can take heart from the fact sides are looking to stop them playing at home – even though the result went against them.
“We are getting respect from teams. It is tough when they do that but it shows we are a good team,” he said.
“This team has just come down from the Championship and you can see that by the way they were managing the game, they are always fighting for the play-offs in League One.
“But so many times this season teams have changed the way they play when they come here and we have found a way through it. As the gaffer says, if they want to try and attack us, we’re happy to do that.
“This isn’t the result I wanted but we’ll bounce back.”
Ian Evatt flagged up some of Rotherham’s second-half timewasting tactics and was booked by referee James Bell for attempting to retrieve the ball from under a chair in the opposition dugout.
Williams admits there was some frustration on the field too – but that it should not be allowed to affect the performance.
“It is hard when they are slowing the game down, it took the momentum out of it for us when we wanted to keep pushing,” he said.
“They take ages to take goal kicks and players are going down with injuries, but you have to overcome that. Top teams should be able to do that.
“We have to look forward and keep playing our stuff. We have been good this season and there is more to come, we can be better.”
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