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Brownie points, along with the regular ones, will be on offer for Ian Evatt and Wanderers at Wycombe tonight.
Buckinghamshire has been a sterile venue for Bolton teams in their previous three visits, with not so much as a goal to celebrate.
Indeed, when Phil Parkinson took his team there at the start of the 2019/20 campaign, just getting a team on the pitch was a triumph, such was the fragile state of the club pre-takeover.
Back then, Sharon Brittan had watched from the stands, her efforts to save the club with the Football Ventures consortium still hanging in the balance.
Tonight, the chairman and her associates will be able to nip down the road to see her club in a much better state, albeit they are still waiting to claim their first result at Adams Park.
Evatt has twice been narrowly beaten by Wycombe and both results clearly hang heavy in his consciousness, as he recited their story in fine detail at his morning press conference at Lostock.
“It bugs me because I think we are better than that, and the two games I have played there we have lost 1-0. I feel like we were more than in the game and deserved something,” he told The Bolton News.
“It was two completely different teams. The first year we had a bit of an injury crisis but we lost MJ (Williams) after about 20 minutes with a dislocated shoulder but still stayed in the game. Lost to a cross and a header in the end.
“Last season it was that set play goal, we could and should have scored before it.
“We know what is coming, we know we have to find ways to get results in this type of game if we want to achieve our ambitions this season.
“Also, the ownership group living down there means that this fixture means the world to them, naturally more than other away fixtures. So, we want to do our best to get this monkey off our back and get some points.”
Wycombe have the type of direct, high-tempo approach which has caused Evatt’s side issues in the past, and though the departure of long-term boss Gareth Ainsworth to QPR last season hinted at a change in direction, his successor Matt Bloomfield has not altered the blueprint significantly.
“They had some difficult periods last season when Matt took over and this season they have been a lot more consistent,” Evatt noted. “I watched a lot of them yesterday and there are a lot of similarities to Gareth’s team, how they are set up is very similar. I don’t think there will be any shocks or surprises. Nobody going there should think it is a different Wycombe, it is definitely not.
“They are a very effective team, it will be difficult, and we will have to be at our best to get a result.”
Faced with a team that put more crosses and high balls into the penalty box than any other, Ricardo Santos’s return from injury has – on paper, at least – been well-timed. You wouldn’t want to be facing Wycombe without him, it was suggested to the Bolton boss.
“I personally wouldn’t want to be anywhere without him!” Evatt laughed.
“Obviously, the lads who stepped in did really well but every manager worldwide would want their best players in the team, and he is very much one of our best players.
“He just has a calming influence on the group. The things he does, the way he plays, it all enables us to do what we want to do in and out of possession. I am happy to have him back and want to make sure we keep him in one piece.”
Mental focus is a must against a team that will test Bolton’s defences but Evatt does not want his team to go to Wycombe on their terms.
“It is difficult because you have to stand up to everything they throw at you – and that takes focus and physicality, all those things, but unless we do what we can with the ball, we won’t win,” he said.
“I’ve used the analogy before but put Conor McGregor in a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather and he’ll lose but put Mayweather in a cage with McGregor and he’ll lose.
“We have to try and make them fight our fight, not be dictated to by them. And it is a difficult thing to do, be aggressive and physical without the ball and then switch to being calm and composed on the ball and pass with detail when you do get on the ball.”
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