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George Thomason insists Wanderers will not be panicked by a heavy defeat at Blackpool.
The midfielder, who got Bolton off to a perfect start with a ninth-minute goal at Bloomfield Road, maintains that the gilt-edged opportunities created – and missed – later in the game should still be taken as a positive, at least inside the camp.
Bolton shipped two goals before half time and were then reduced to 10 men with a red card for Ricardo Santos before Blackpool went on to make the score-line look much more damaging.
Thomason urged calm as Ian Evatt’s side look to respond with a better outcome at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night.
“I don’t think it is a 4-1 game if I am being totally honest,” he said, after the final whistle.
“On the whole we put in a solid performance and in the first half in particular we had chances, we go 1-0 up and the game started to settle. We had some great chances with crosses from our wing-backs and we have to take them. It is cliched but football is a game of moments and we definitely had them in that first half, take them it is a different story.
“We can all analyse and assess the opposition goals – and we will - and then obviously going down to 10 men it is an uphill battle.
“We can’t dwell on it. The best thing now is to go again Tuesday night, turn up and take our chances, get back on the horse. There is not long left now, so we have to grasp each opportunity.
“If we come away from this game with that score-line and we hadn’t created like we did then there would be a cause for concern.
“The fact we caused them problems in the first half is a positive. We obviously want to take those chances and make things comfortable, especially in a hostile environment like it can be here. If you give their fans an opportunity to turn the heat up and back their side, they certainly will. It is hard to fight that momentum back.”
The Santos dismissal looks set to lead to an appeal from Wanderers on Monday.
Peterborough referee Josh Smith chose to issue a straight red and award a penalty for the skipper’s challenge on Kyle Joseph, which by the letter of the law means he did not believe there was an effort to play the ball.
“I don’t want to touch on the officials too much because everyone thinks they are against you in different aspects,” Thomason said. “They will think they had decisions against them too.
“We always say a goal comes from an accumulation of errors, it is never just one, and to be fair to Rico he went to block the ball from going over the line and probably not see the lad come off his shoulder.
“For me, it isn’t a sending off. You could argue if it is a penalty or not, I don’t know.
“But sometimes that is the rub of the green and the bit of luck we are missing at the moment.”
Wanderers did not lose ground on second-placed Derby County, by virtue of their defeat at Barnsley.
Leaders Portsmouth edged a further point ahead with a draw at Cheltenham Town.
Further pressure has now been heaped on to Tuesday’s big game at Wigan but Thomason believes the occasion can bring the best out of Wanderers.
“It is sometimes hard to put football into perspective, especially when you are in the thick of it,” he said. “But these boys have worked so hard throughout the season to get ourselves into the position we are in. A few weeks ago it might have looked more handsome with all the games in hand but we’re still there, we have just made it tougher for ourselves.
“The Wigan game is a great one to go into now. People will see the score-line and say Bolton have been over-run but it wasn’t the case. We created opportunities and we take them it is a different story, for sure.”
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