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George Thomason believes Wanderers are now better prepared for a promotion push than they were 12 months ago.
Ian Evatt’s side resume business in League One this weekend with a home game against Exeter City, knowing they could push back into the top two with a favourable result.
After reaching the play-offs last season only to be out-battled by Barnsley over two legs, midfielder Thomason believes a stronger, more aggressive team is now better suited to winning “different types” of games in League One.
“As much as we want to be an expansive, free flowing, attacking team we also know that teams are going to have spells of pressure and ask us different questions,” he said. “We have added another string to our bow this year, defending set plays, defending our box, people doing jobs for lads if they are out of position and covering each other. We are learning how to really grind out results in different types of games and doing the other side of it all.
“We have a little saying amongst ourselves: ‘Enjoy the work out there’.
“You have 90-100 minutes of football, so you should be out there enjoying every moment of it, and I can see that sort of hunger and desire in the way we are playing at the moment.”
Thomason feels his own game has also developed, given greater first team responsibilities.
The 22-year-old made 25 appearances last season but missed a chunk of football after dislocating his knee and tearing a ligament against Bristol Rovers nearly 12 months ago.
His form since returning in April with a substitute appearance in the Papa Johns Trophy final was enough to tempt Championship club Bristol City to make a seven-figure bid for his services in the summer.
But Thomason believes his form this season has shown why staying with the Whites was the correct decision.
“Last year I felt like I was doing well and progressing but this season I really feel I have kicked on again,” he said “I want to get better. The manager and the coaching staff are throwing different stuff at us on a daily basis and if you looked at how the team played when he first came in compared to now, it might not be completely different but there are not too many similarities. The evolution of the squad has coincided with my own journey.”
Before the international break, Thomason scored his second goal of the season against the club which released him as a 16-year-old, Blackpool.
Looking back, he says the decision to move into non-league football with Longridge Town and continue with his school studies might have been beneficial in the long-run.
“Obviously I was absolutely gutted at the time,” he told The Bolton News. “But in some aspects being released by Blackpool was a blessing in disguise for me because it gave me the opportunity to go and get coaching elsewhere in a different environment, to continue my academic learning alongside men’s football.
“I got exposed to the men’s game at an early age and I think that has helped me progress and kick on, learn different styles of football. Even though it was the North West Counties, that exposure was so important.
“Early days when I got released I was probably thinking ‘can I do well for myself in non-league and have a nice job on the side?’ You can earn a good living that way.
“I have always wanted to learn and get the best out of myself, so when I got the opportunity of a trial at Bolton I just had to go for it. I probably got another bit of luck because my first contract here came at a time when the club was in a very different place. Since then I have just tried to take things in, progress, and thankfully I am here now.”
Thomason is currently the longest-serving member of the Bolton squad, having signed his first professional deal with the club in January 2020 under previous manager Keith Hill.
Asked what would have happened if he did not get the call from Wanderers, Thomason added: “It would have been something to do with sport, I was studying sports science and exercise in university so it would have been something along there. I was working in a corner shop at the time but I sacked it off as soon as I came here!”
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