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Ian Evatt wasn’t overly enamoured with Wanderers’ performance despite crashing five goals past Harrogate in the FA Cup second round.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson grabbed a first-half hat-trick and Dan Nlundulu helped himself to two goals after half time but aside from the front two – described as “unplayable” by the Bolton boss – he was largely nonplussed by his team’s performance on the day.
A chance to claim the club’s record for consecutive clean sheets passed them by with some poor defending on the edge of their own box, leading to George Thomson curling a consolation goal which broke a chain of seven shut-outs.
And that contributed to Evatt’s view that while the manner of victory was straightforward, there was room for much improvement.
“It was okay,” he said. “I was happy with the result, I am happy we are in the next round, but I thought we were a bit loose.
“We were sloppy at times because I know we can be better than that. I am really unhappy with the goal we conceded, I think that was all our own doing. We’d worked so hard to get to the record, or the cusp of having it ourselves, and it was a silly one to give away.
“It was coming as well because we made some daft errors at times and I don’t know if there was an air od complacency but I thought we were just OK.
“I know people will say ‘but you won 5-1’ but I try and tell the players the truth and how I feel, and it is because of how they train and play that gives me an idea of how good they can be. And that wasn’t it.
“I don’t know if there was an air of complacency, but we were just OK, nothing more.
“When they dip below it, I will tell them. Today there were parts that were good – I thought the two centre-forwards Jon and Dan were outstanding – but there were others that were not so good.”
Wanderers have equalled a record for goals in a calendar year – Nlundulu’s second goal making it 104 during 2023 – but not hitting the clean sheet record played on Evatt’s mind as he looked over his side’s 90 minute’s work.
“I wanted that to be our own,” he said. “It is frustrating but I felt it was coming before that and we hadn’t learned from some of the sloppy errors we had made. We were over-playing at times and not doing the basics well enough.
“I was happy with the goals and we could have had more, should have had more, but we were loose with our connections and combinations.
“But they are the standards we are trying to drive now and the reason we are doing that is down to the performances the players have put in recently, so they do deserve credit for that.
“I see them every day, I know what they are capable of doing, and when they dip below it I will tell them because that is the relationship I have with them.”
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