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Ian Evatt reckons the bumper backing of Wanderers fans is crucial this week as his patched-up side look to get themselves closer to the top two.
Six home points are on offer as Bolton host Stevenage on Tuesday night, followed by the visit of Carlisle United at the weekend.
George Thomason will return from suspension but first teamers Gethin Jones, Ricardo Santos, Carlos Mendes Gomes, Paris Maghoma, George Johnston and Victor Adeboyejo – who has picked up a knee injury – are all side-lined, and others like Kyle Dempsey and Dion Charles are managing injury problems that would ordinarily need rest.
Evatt said a vociferous 3,000-strong travelling support was a major factor in the 1-0 win against Port Vale and he has called on the same sort of atmosphere to be generated again to help lift his flagging squad.
“The fans were unbelievable, seeing that packed out away end, lifting the lads,” he said. “This club is very much together at the moment regardless of people trying to knock us down or split us up – we’re going one way.
“The support the fans have given me since I have been at this club has been amazing. We thrive off that positive energy that they bring – and they have brought it all season – so fingers crossed that continues and we can keep this going to the break.
“We have to get through the next two games and it will get easier because players will start to return.
"We have got the first one in the bag now, and now we are back at home and hopefully the fans will really get behind the players to give them the energy they are going to need because it is all we have got at the moment. We want two wins, we want to get ourselves back up around where we want to be.”
Wanderers dominated the first half at Port Vale and deservedly led through Dion Charles’s 43rd minute strike – but the home side improved significantly after the break to test the Whites’ resolve.
Evatt said he was proud of the response, which was a riposte to the criticism they had received for blowing a one-goal lead at Reading a few weeks earlier.
“I thought we started to run low on energy in the second half but they made up for it with courage and bravery, a willingness to fight for the club,” he said. “What they played first half was up there with the best we have played with the ball, we were incisive, we were brave, they didn’t know what to do.
“Port Vale came out and played a lot better in the second half, to they put us under pressure. We had to fight and dig in, and it is exactly what we did.
“A lot of people, at one time or another, has questioned us in that regard – particularly Reading away from home. And as I have said all along we won’t be motivated by people telling us we are good, we should be fired up by people knocking us and we should want to prove people wrong.
“You saw here that the players grafted, they stuck together and they got three points.”
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