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Eoin Toal reckons there is a ‘quiet confidence’ in the Wanderers camp as they return for a home double header against Stevenage and Carlisle United this week.
The big defender, one of Bolton’s outstanding players in Saturday’s resolute 1-0 win at Port Vale, says there is no undue alarm within the dressing room at the number of players currently unavailable for selection to Ian Evatt.
September ended with a steady record of two league and two cup wins, a draw and a defeat, and Toal believes the club can make a winning start to October, provided they stick to the gameplan.
“We are quietly confident about things,” he said. “We know the way we want to play.
“It is a good expectation that has been put on us. We know where we want to be and we’ll just keep working hard listening to the manager, to the coaches, who are brilliant in my opinion.
“We’re looking forward getting back home, three points there is the next benchmark now.
“The fans always get behind us – with two home games, hopefully it will be more of the same.
“Obviously we are down a few bodies – the skipper, Geth, etc, but I still think we have got plenty of quality there. They are big misses but the boys who have stepped in have done really well.
“We are really just looking forward. We are confident at home but good teams can play anywhere.”
For Toal, the opportunity to stack up games this week is a welcome one, considering the stop-start campaign he has been through to date.
Way back in April, the ankle injury he picked up after a poor challenge from Plymouth Argyle striker Sam Cosgrove – who now wears the colours of Barnsley – had an underestimated effect on the next six months.
The centre-half was forced to pull out of an international training camp in the summer and then saw his preparations for this season curtailed when the problem flared up again.
“That final one kind of set me back, made me miss a chunk of pre-season. I got myself fit, then got sent off, so it wasn’t ideal.
“I’ve got three or four league games under my belt now, so I’m feeling good and looking forward to Tuesday night.”
Toal has also shown he can play in any of three central defensive positions, which has been a handy trait with personnel numbers down in recent weeks.
“The manager has loads of confidence in me, he wants me to have the ball, I enjoy it.
“I don’t mind anywhere, so long as I am on the pitch. I can kind of instruct more when I’m in the centre of the pitch, can use my voice, but it doesn’t worry me.”
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