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They did it the hard way – but Ian Evatt hopes a landmark win at Accrington Stanley can be a turning point in the season for Wanderers.
Without a goal in three league games and trailing 2-0 after nearly an hour on Saturday afternoon, there seemed little hope that the day would end with such joyous scenes as those witnessed among the 2,600-plus travelling supporters at the Wham Stadium.
But a Harvey Rodgers own goal sparked a stunning comeback, completed with strikes from Kieran Lee and Dapo Afolayan, giving Bolton a confidence boosting win which returns them to the top six and lifts some of the pressure that had been building around the team’s inconsistency away from home.
Evatt admitted he was “numb” as he tried to describe the comeback, and the second time a Bolton team under his stewardship had returned from two goals down to win a game.
The previous occasion had been at Mansfield Town in February 2021, a result now seen as definitive in the promotion campaign from League Two.
Evatt hopes this result can also push his side on the greater things.
“Hopefully we can all be really positive about this because we’ve done it the real hard way,” he told The Bolton News. “At 2-0 down with half an hour to go, we’ve really had to dig deep but the players have done that.
“We’ve conceded two of the worst goals you’ve ever seen. The first one is abysmal, the second one is a long throw own goal, it’s just awful and it gives you that awful feeling, so for the players to come back and respond the way they have, I’m immensely proud of them because with a huge following and crowd, it started to get edgy.
“Everyone’s got that negative feeling and the players have turned that full circle and got everyone believing again so I’m delighted for them, but now we have to focus on Burton now on Tuesday.”
Evatt had made a surprise selection call on the day, starting Dapo Afolayan at left wing-back.
The Bolton boss had studied the way Chelsea have used attacking players such as Victor Moses and Raheem Sterling in the past but the experiment did not work, with the game changing in the second half after a move to 4-3-3 with Afolayan playing on the left side of attack.
“Everything I did was for us to be brave on the ball and attack more and we weren't that, so it didn’t really work to be honest. We saw flashes and glimpses where we’ve got Dapo in one v one scenarios and situations, Lloyd Isgrove the same, but we weren’t brave enough to keep giving them the ball continuously.
“Second half once we did that and we found them, we’ve seen what can happen. We’ve got good individual players that can cause teams problems, but it all comes down to the bravery on the ball. Not bravery in terms of defending, running and heading and kicking and tackling, as that’s a given.
“That's the foundations that every team should be built from, but the quality and in possession detail is something that we work very hard on and it takes confidence and belief to show that and I don’t think we did because of the last three results.
“Following on from that though, we’ve managed to turn it around so great credit to the players.”
Despite his experiment failing to produce positive results at Accrington, Evatt has not ruled out using the former West Ham man as a wing-back again in the future.
“I think maybe at home it suits us better because the pitch is bigger, we can be more expansive and we can get him in one v one scenarios and situations more. The nature of how Accrington play is very much man for man orientated.
“They go really tight all over the pitch and we thought that Dapo would win his individual duel against his full-back today and second half, he certainly did that.”
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