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Dion Charles has joined the 20-goal gang at Wanderers – but Ian Evatt believes his striker is capable of much more in the future.
After scoring the only goal of the game against Oxford United, Charles became the first Bolton player in 22 years to hit 20 goals in all club competitions, the last being Michael Ricketts in 2001.
Evatt stood by his striker earlier in the season when questions were being asked about his scoring return, his leanest spells coming in September and October. And having got his reward, the Bolton boss has show challenged Charles to push his game on even further.
“Firstly it is an outstanding achievement – but the way we coach our players and the way we want them to be is to always want more,” he told The Bolton News.
“For Dion it is analysing his game and wanting more from himself, it can’t be ‘I’ve cracked it, job done, I can relax and take things for granted.’
“You have to be humble enough to work really hard on the training ground and improve all aspects of your game. If we look back over the course of the season, arguably, Dion could have had even more goals.
“Perfection doesn’t exist but so long as you strive for it, you can put yourself in a pretty good place. It is the same for all the players.”
Charles limped out of the Oxford win in the second half having picked up a knock on his knee but Evatt is confident he will recover quickly.
“He is bashed up, banged up, but we’ll try and get him together again for Tuesday,” he said.
Wanderers had to live on their defensive instincts at the Kassam Stadium, withstanding some brutal second-half pressure against an Oxford side under serious threat of relegation.
The turning point in the game arrived 15 minutes before half time when keeper James Trafford clattered into Kyle Joseph on the edge of the penalty box, and was punished with a yellow card, rather than a red by referee Seb Stocksbridge.
The injustice transformed the atmosphere around the ground and gave some impetus to the home side.
“We all watched the Liverpool v Arsenal game where there was an incident with Trent Alexander-Arnold and (Granit) Xhaka and the commentary was really good, I thought, because you don’t want to get involved. You want to keep the crowd quiet,” Evatt noted.
“We had done the hard part, we were on top in the game, but a moment like that can really inspire that hard-done-to mentality and they got that.
“It was just a communication error and I think you’ll get that when it is a completely new back three which has never played together. The main thing is the decision went our way and we went on to win the game.”
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