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Kieran Lee believes Wanderers will benefit from the chance to return home this weekend as they look to correct their course against Barnsley.
Two away defeats have stirred up dissatisfaction among the Bolton fanbase and renewed questions over the durability of Ian Evatt’s team away from the luxuries of the UniBol.
Experienced midfielder Lee cannot put his finger on why performances have been less convincing away from home, where this season the Whites have taken five points from a possible 18.
“For some reason we struggle a little bit,” he said of recent results at Cheltenham and Forest Green. “It is hard to put a reason on it, to be fair. “Every home game we perform, no matter who we are up against. But some of the ones we go away from home, for whatever reason, it turns into a different game.
“We struggle to get the performance in, then obviously the result from there.
“We know that, and it was the same last season. We have worked on it, this last couple of games has set us back but we have to keep going and believing in ourselves.
“I think it is hard after two bad results but I think we are still confident we can have a good season. We just need to kick on and improve.”
Wanderers’ away form has been inconsistent since the turn of the year, with seven wins, four draws and six defeats from 17 league games, spanning two seasons.
Lee agrees with his manager’s view that improving that set of results is pivotal to the club’s chances of making the top six this year. And he is confident that the dressing room is strong enough to make that happen.
“If we are going to get promotion, which is the aim, that is the type of game that we should be coming to grind out a win,” he said of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at the New Lawn.
“The performance doesn’t have to be great, we just need to improve on it.
“We can do it. There are players in there who can play good football and those who can grind out results.
“The level in League One goes up every year and there are a lot of big clubs, including ourselves, so we know it is going to be tough. But we do have belief that we can have a good season.”
Lee has started seven of Wanderers’ 12 league games so far, with Evatt looking to keep the 34-year-old in peak condition by using him selectively.
The former Sheffield Wednesday man hopes the policy will help to extend his own playing career, which began some 15 years ago at Manchester United.
"We have got a big squad and some good players, especially in the midfield areas,” he said. “I am getting a bit older so the manager wants to freshen it up at times, which is fine. But I feel as fit as I ever have.”
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