Home
Ian Evatt praised his players for executing a perfect gameplan in victory against Charlton Athletic.
But for a mistake which gifted Scott Fraser an opening goal after just four minutes, Wanderers were in control for most of the game at the UniBol.
Conor Bradley equalised before Kieran Lee and George Johnston ensured a first league win in three.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game because Charlton are a good team, a technical team, they play in a really expansive manner, so the gameplan was to really press them high and not to let them settle,” Evatt explained.
“We went man for man, and we needed that type of player on the pitch who could execute the plan accordingly, and I thought we did it perfectly well.”
Asked what went through his mind when Johnston lost possession for Charlton’s early goal, the Bolton boss admits had an uneasy feeling of déjà vu.
“I just thought ‘another individual mistake’ when are we going to cut these out?” he said.
“I am really proud of the way we reacted, reset. We learned from what we did against Sheffield Wednesday – if you concede one it should never become two. And I thought we settled straight down, reset our mentality, and I thought we got our reward.”
Wanderers made three changes from the side which lost at Plymouth Argyle last weekend and kept faith with youngster George Thomason in a deep-lying midfield role alongside MJ Williams.
And while they made harder work of it than he would have liked, Evatt was delighted with the way his starting XI stuck to the task.
“At the moment we are giving ourselves an uphill challenge but I have a huge amount of belief in these players as I’d said on Deadline Day,” he said.
“Each game provides a different challenge and task, and for each one it is down to me to select the right personnel on any given day.
“People will be rotated, move in and out of the match, and they have to stick to their beliefs and with each other. If they are going to be miserable and mardy then do it with me in my office. I don’t mind.
“But with each other they need to be positive because when it is their turn they will need the players’ support from the bench too.
“We have a really good squad and that is why I didn’t feel the need to push for anything on Thursday. I do feel Deadline Day can be more reactive than proactive, and we were proactive with what we tried to do over the last few windows. I think we have developed a pretty good team.”
Wanderers go to Cheltenham Town next weekend, then face a midweek trip to MK Dons the following Tuesday.
Having played a condensed spell of games in August, Evatt is thankful for a short spell to recharge the batteries.
“We have got a free week, we can get a bit of recovery now for a week or two, then we can really concentrate on Cheltenham and another big week,” he said.
“I am delighted for the players because the week we’d had, I don’t think they got what they deserved. Three defeats can look awful, especially when two out of the three were at home but it was the general performance that gave me heart.
“I am delighted they bounced back with a win on Tuesday and then another one today.”
Source