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Wanderers go into a crucial Easter weekend with a clear message from Ian Evatt: “Make your own luck!”
There has been an undeniable feeling of injustice around the Toughsheet Stadium in recent weeks that recent performances have not been reflected in the club’s points haul.
Added to that the hardship of a lengthy injury list, including top scorer Dion Charles and goalkeeper Nathan Baxter, and it may be easy for Bolton to feel that the cards are stacked against them in the chase for an automatic promotion place in League One.
But speaking before his side travel to face seventh-placed Stevenage on Good Friday, Evatt says his players cannot afford to allow any negativity to creep in, and that they must take charge of their own destiny from here on in.
“People undervalue and underestimate luck in football,” he told The Bolton News. “Some of the data scientists that I speak to tell me you’d have to play 400 games in a season to get a true reflection of the best team winning the league, so there are obviously circumstances that happen.
“All you can do is try to focus on your own responsibilities. As much as I feel we have been unfortunate, I still think there is a great deal we can improve upon.
“You have to take luck out of the equation – that is our focus now. It is where the focus has been over the last week, trying to polish some of the good things I have seen in the last few weeks.”
After Derby beat Bolton on March 16, their slip-up against Northampton Town during the international break has made things interesting again in the battle for second spot.
Evatt says his players have reflected on both results but remain focussed on how they can affect the final seven games.
“I am not upset with disappointment after a defeat,” he said. “I think when you lose you should be upset with it to a degree and it is not a nice feeling – but if you are going to lose, at least play well. It gets a lot worse if you are losing games and not playing well.
“This is a team culture, they are together, and it has to be that way. In life in general the best things you achieve are ones that you share with other people. When it’s an individual case then the enjoyment goes away a bit.
“We want to go through this whole process – the good times and the bad – as a team. We have had our fair share of tough moments this season but we are still very much where we wanted to be, the game last weekend makes it slightly better, and we now need to win seven games.
“Whether that is possible, whether it is necessary, we will see. I certainly think this team is capable of that but we know what football can be like and I still feel there will be some twists and turns to come.
“It has to start at Stevenage, that is where we have to concentrate. It is all down to us now. We know how tough they will be but we have to believe.”
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