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Whilst an unfamiliar back three caused ripples of concern around the stadium before kick-off, Ian Evatt says he had confidence that Eoin Toal, Will Aimson and George Johnston would come good.
With Gethin Jones injured and Ricardo Santos still recovering from a nasty virus, options at centre-back were slim, leading Wanderers to name a trio of players who have only previously played together in the Papa Johns Trophy.
Evatt may well have to call on the same players to keep out Derby County in Bolton’s next game on December 27 – and he took great encouragement from the way they resolutely protected a clean sheet in the second half against Exeter.
“There shouldn’t be concern because all three off them have proved, individually, they are good players,” he said.
“Eoin has come over and taken to it like a duck to water. He has impressed me with how quickly he has taken things on board, and he’ll get better and better all the time.
“Will is an experienced player and he has never let us down. He has missed a lot of time with injury and I thought his fitness levels were superb to get through that game and 60 minutes on Tuesday.
“Jonno is Jonno – he is improving all the time.
“So, yes, it was jaded second half but the most important thing is that we got the right result and we managed the game accordingly. It was scrappy, it wasn’t fluid like it was in the first half, but there are lots of reasons why that wasn’t the case.
“That result now gives us the chance to reset for the 27th and Derby County.”
Wanderers’ right-sided defensive duo of Jones and Conor Bradley have been lauded this season for the number of chances they have created.
Finding the right blend on the left has been slightly more difficult, but Evatt was pleased to see Johnston involved in the build-up to Dion Charles’ goal, with wing-back Jack Iredale also posing plenty of problems in the first half.
“We have asked that of Gethin and Conor on the right side, and it has really caused the opposition problems,” said the Bolton boss. “We have wanted to mirror that down the left and give Jonno the license to go and do it.
“Maybe he felt that because Eoin Toal was more of an outright centre-back playing on the right side it gave him more of a role to push on, maybe he felt that freedom?
“We want to do that on both sides of the pitch because if we can have them mirroring each other then it is going to cause opposition lots and lots of problems.”
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