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Wanderers go for six in a row on Saturday, with Ian Evatt confident his side can raise their game for the big occasion against Blackpool.
With the top two in sight and a Manager of the Month award in hand for October, the Bolton boss reckons his in-form players are in the right mood to perform in front of a packed house at the Toughsheet Stadium.
Big crowds have not always brought the best out of Wanderers in recent times – but Evatt believes their progress this season makes them better suited for the pressured occasions.
“People will ask questions about what we have done in this type of game,” he told The Bolton News. “But I think you’ll always have questions to answer at this football club, it is never perfect, and I don’t think that exists.
“We are always looking to improve in the big games, the big crowds, and I think you look at Wembley where we didn’t do too badly, against Derby this season we didn’t do too badly, I think there were some examples last season away from home in front of big crowds too.
“I think it is mostly about the process and understanding what a good performance looks like for us. If we can execute that plan, whether there are five or 50,000 people there, we need the same mindset and mentality.”
Evatt and his staff worked hard to improve the resilience and mental strength of the group after last season’s play-off semi-final defeat at Barnsley.
And he feels the way his team recovered from defeat to Carlisle – the only blip in last month’s schedule – has shown the improvement they have made.
“We have done a lot of work with the players on what happens when things get tough, and that includes the big games and big crowds. You need to raise your belief.
“You need to keep doing the things that have brought success, so when things do get challenging you almost need to double down and do it even more. It has taken a while to get into that mindset and we still have slip-ups, it is still a work in progress, but the key word is progress, and I think this club has progressed in my time here.
“The balance of being a manager is 80 per cent psychological and 20 per cent out there, tactics on the grass. You have to be a bit of a psychologist and get inside people’s minds, make them feel confident and believe in what we are trying to do.
“Going back to that Blackpool side I played in, we were not the most talented bunch, in many ways we were a team of misfits, but what we did have was a very strong mentality. The group that we have are getting into that place, which is really good for us.”
Saturday’s game will carry with it some emotional significance, with Evatt having played more than 250 appearances for the Tangerines in his playing career, helping them into the Premier League.
“They will always hold a special place in my heart,” he added. “But on Saturday I’m the Bolton manager and want a Bolton win, no doubt about it.”
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