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Ian Evatt says Wanderers cannot afford to write off Crewe ahead of Friday night’s League One clash at the UniBol.
The Railwaymen have had a tough start and sit bottom of the table, having won just one of their 16 matches so far.
But Evatt says they are a dangerous team and insists it is vital for his players to be switched on.
“They are a very good football team,” said the Bolton boss. “They did us over a couple of times last year.
“The last time I looked, teams don’t get promoted or relegated in October, November – it’s a long old season.
“They’ll back themselves to turn it around just like we back ourselves to get in the top 12, top 10 again and see where we go from there.
“For now, we respect the opposition always, always do our due diligence, but we must focus on our own jobs, roles and responsibilities.”
David Artell has had to deal with losing several key players over the summer and Evatt feels for the Crewe boss.
The Bolton chief praised Artell for his commitment to playing attractive football even when results aren’t going their way.
He added: “David’s a fantastic manager. In my opinion, he tries to play the right way and I love the way they to play, I always have done.
“But he’s had a tough gig. I think they’ve sold most of their better players. But that’s the model Crewe are and credit to them.
“They produce loads of good talented young players and make themselves sustainable by selling them on, and then they get the next lot of players coming through.
“It’s tough for David but I think he’s done fantastic.”
Last weekend’s FA Cup clash with Stockport was a welcome distraction from League One action for Wanderers.
But Evatt says Friday night’s clash with Crewe is the start of an important run of games and insists his side need to find a way to win.
“I think we were excellent at Rochdale – very good performance, very good victory,” said Evatt.
“We did a lot right on Sunday. Yes we drew the game and everyone will say we should be beating that opposition. But as I said, they had a lot in their favour.
“They’re two leagues below but they had five and a half thousand fans here, they had a new manager and it was a free hit for them so to speak.
“We dominated the entire game, it was only our own mistakes and errors that cost us the victory. But we’ve got another chance, which is great.
“But now we’ve got some very, very important league games coming up. It starts with Friday, we’ve got some other winnable home fixtures coming up this month and in the next.
“We need to start winning games again, it’s as simple as that.”
The Whites will be aiming to end a run of five league matches without a victory on Friday night.
Evatt admits it has been a tough few weeks but wants his players to forget about past results and take things one game at a time.
“I think we’ve lost four out of the last five in the league but if you look at those fixtures in isolation, we should never have lost the Sheffield Wednesday game and I don’t think we should have lost the Portsmouth game,” he added.
“The two in between was just the perfect storm. We just have to concentrate on ourselves and focus on our own performance levels.
“I think outside the league we’ve only lost one of the last four which is better, it’s kind of stopped the rot.
“We need to build on that now with some positive performances and results moving forwards.”
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