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Wanderers must keep producing high-octane football if they are to get the better of league leaders Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, says Ian Evatt.
Buoyed by a comprehensive win at Barnsley on Monday, the Bolton boss wants his side to make a statement in their own promotion chase by matching the team which has set the pace at the top of the table for most of the season.
Plymouth are four points clear at the top and 16 ahead of Wanderers having played just one game more but backed by a healthy home crowd currently nudging 17,000, Evatt is confident a performance like the one at Oakwell will do the trick.
“That was the best version of ourselves, and when we put it all together we are a very good team,” he told The Bolton News. “It isn’t a surprise to me that we got a result like that because we are more than capable.
“We have to look at that level now and match it against Plymouth, the energy, the aggression, the tempo, and if we can do all that then I have got a lot of faith in this group of players that we can get to where we want to be.”
In the last two games Wanderers have seen their opponents reduced to 10 men but whereas they struggled to break down a deeper-lying Lincoln City at the end of December, they handled the situation better at Barnsley.
Evatt feels his side are more effective when they play at pace – and has called for more of the same at the weekend.
“The plan doesn’t change,” he said. “For us it is about keeping up the speed of the ball and the tempo that we move it, keep the opposition working hard. It obviously means the opposition fatigue because they can’t keep pressing for 90 minutes, and then it is about talking advantage.
“The last 20-25 minutes (at Barnsley) we scored a really good third goal but probably could gone on and scored a couple more.
“We can be pleased about that performance but we have to move on and concentrate on Plymouth now because the way they have been playing this season, we know it will be a tough game.”
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