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Set-pieces have been an issue at times since Ian Evatt took charge at Wanderers, but the Bolton boss isn’t worried ahead of Saturday's trip to Morecambe.
The Whites have had plenty of joy from dead ball scenarios over the past month, with Dion Charles scoring from a corner against Portsmouth in midweek.
But set-plays also proved to be their undoing at Fratton Park, with all three of the hosts’ goals coming from such situations.
Evatt is pleased to see his side looking more threatening from set-plays but admits their defending against Pompey was simply not good enough.
But the boss isn’t overly concerned and believes the lapses in concentration were down to mental fatigue following a demanding month of fixtures.
“What we've tried to do is just simplify things and give people simple jobs, and I think we're seeing the fruits of that,” he told The Bolton News.
“When you have people doing their jobs and you've got good delivery and people who are attacking the ball aggressively, then you've got a chance of scoring. I think we've certainly improved over the past month.
“I don't think we've got an issue with set plays defensively, I think that was basically just the perfect storm in the second half at Portsmouth. We just need to make sure we focus and give it the importance that it deserves.
“I thought we were just a little bit too nice and passive, especially after the first one. I think we then had to take our medicine.
“We had a big chance after it with Kacha and if he leaves it for Kieran, he could probably score. But at 1-1 with five minutes to go we should have really been saying, ‘that is it, now we focus, we concentrate and we see this game out’.
“We just went a little bit passive and just allowed them to build a bit of momentum, and obviously the next two set-plays we can see they're very, very poor. But we'll learn from it, we've spoken about it today. We'll go into Saturday knowing that we need to improve and play really well.”
The stats back up Wanderers’ growing threat from set-plays this season – only three League One sides have scored more goals from such situations.
However, they are in the bottom half of the table for the number of shots that have come from dead ball scenarios, which suggests they have also been clinical in front of goal.
Meanwhile, the Whites have the eighth worst defensive record from set-pieces in the division since the start of the campaign.
Evatt added: “What we've tried to do is really just speak to Eoin and Rico and say, ‘if there was a heading duel anywhere on the pitch, you'd back yourself to win it’.
“So how do we create those one-v-ones for them where it's just them against their opponent? And they have to back themselves to win it. That's the kind of things we've looked at.
“To enable us to do that, we obviously have to have specific movement and specific blockers. Then it's all on the delivery and we've practised that as well.”
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