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Ian Evatt won’t wind himself up about the League One play-off face while Wanderers are preparing for their big date at Wembley.
The Bolton boss could do little as the promotion race went on around him in midweek, with Plymouth Argyle and Barnsley both picking up big wins at Accrington Stanley and Sheffield Wednesday, respectively.
And it will be a similar scenario for the next two Saturdays, where Wanderers will try and keep their focus on the Papa Johns Trophy final, and not what might be unfolding elsewhere.
Evatt’s side went into their pre-Wembley break in sixth spot but with the knowledge that they could be nudged out of the play-off spots by the time they return to league action at Exeter City on Good Friday (April 7).
“We know that other teams will be playing games, I think Wycombe will have played three more times by the time we play in the final, so the league table might look different by the time we get back,” Evatt told The Bolton News.
“You’d send yourself daft worrying about it, and I won’t do it because there is nothing we can affect there.
“By that stage we will have games in hand, and the focus will be on us getting points. But I think we have a pretty good run-in and they are games that I am really looking forward to, and that provided we can stay at our best level, they are games I think we can get points from. I genuinely think we are in a strong position.”
The worst case scenario for Wanderers would be for Peterborough United and Wycombe to win their two games, dropping them down to eighth spot.
Posh play twice at home against Derby County and Oxford United, and Wycombe face a trip to Charlton Athletic this weekend, followed by a home game against MK Dons on April 1.
Portsmouth could also climb to within a point if they were to beat Port Vale and Forest Green, with both games to be played at Fratton Park.
Above Bolton, however, Derby’s form has been unsteady of late, and after visiting Peterborough this Saturday they face another stern test at home to Ipswich Town, which could bring down their goal difference.
Win or lose at Wembley, Evatt wants to keep reactions down to a minimum, knowing his side must regain some consistency in the last eight games of the season if they want a crack at Championship football.
And he believes the Plymouth game should be regarded as a celebration of the positive direction the club has been travelling in over the last few years, rather than ‘pressure’ for success and silverware.
“I say it a lot, the time for pats on the back is in the summer, not now, for now it is about hard work and keeping going,” he said. “These are the type of games that we wanted to be involved in as a football club and we have grown and evolved pretty quickly when you consider where we were a few years ago, as I have said before, sometimes you have to take a step back and get some perspective.
“I think there have been some great signs this season, but the work isn’t over by a long shot, we go again.”
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