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Wanderers are locked and loaded for another home game – and Ian Evatt hopes the return of some of his big guns can help fire the club towards the Championship.
After rattling five past Oxford United and Reading in their previous two outings at the Toughsheet, a very different challenge awaits the Whites this weekend as League One leaders Portsmouth come to town looking for a win that would secure the title.
Bolton have been buoyed, however, by the return of top scorer, Dion Charles, the Northern Ireland international who has not kicked a ball since February 13 and the 2-1 home win against Wycombe.
Evatt joked a fortnight ago that injuries had left his team “going into battle with a water pistol rather than an armada” but Aaron Collins’ recent scoring form has given the Whites an added potency. The Welshman has five goals in his last five games, including a hat-trick in his last home appearance.
Asked whether he had “upgraded to a Super Soaker” for Pompey’s visit, Evatt admits his options have been significantly improved over the last few weeks.
“It’s more of a Nerf now,” he smiled. “But you know what I meant by that comment, and people can use whatever context they like, but when we had so many of our weapons missing it just meant we were light.
“The guns are returning now. It started with Ricardo (Santos), then Nathan (Baxter) and now Dion Charles is back as well, with a few others too. There are no excuses, we have to go out there and do the best we can to try and get this done and over the line.”
Wanderers were without eight first team players at one stage last month and down to three strikers – Collins, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Cameron Jerome. They were able to stay in touch with the promotion race, however, and now know four wins out of four will mean promotion regardless of what happens elsewhere.
“We’d said that once we got to the international window that we would see some light, and we have,” Evatt said. “We are in the position now with four games to go where it is in our hands and that is exactly what we would have wished for at this stage of the season. It is down to us now.
“Having three home games in a row now is huge for us. I have said so many times that the conditions here help us – the crowd helps us, the pitch size helps us, the home comforts help us, and we have had some very good performances here this season.
“We have scored five in back-to-back home games, so we are extremely confident. But on the right side of the confidence line, that is important to say.
“There is some arrogance there because to play the way we want to you need belief, but there is also a desire to compete and do the ugly part of the game successfully. That is when we are at our best, when it is all underpinned by the hard work and the way we press. If we do that well, get the crowd off their seats early in the game, then I am confident we have the quality to cause them problems.”
If Wanderers are assembling an ‘Armada’ they will hope the task of conquering Portsmouth is more successful than it was for an unprepared Spanish and French fleet back in 1779. That historic battle ended in the choppy waters of the Channel with the key naval base still safe and sound.
Bolton braved the storms in another port city last weekend, grinding out a 2-0 win against Bristol Rovers with more sweat than swagger. Evatt feels that the gritty performance was well-timed, considering the type of game he expects on Saturday afternoon.
“I think it is important that the players build confidence winning games in different ways again,” he said.
“We scored five in the last two home games, outstanding performances, and if we play like that we are pretty much unstoppable. But it is nice to see when we didn’t play so well that we are able to find a way to get a result.
“We didn’t win at Stevenage but it was pretty gritty and determined. It seems like we are finding that side of ourselves again.
“I have no doubt against Portsmouth that there will be stages of the game where things won’t be fluid, and we’ll have to fight, battle and dig in. We will have to show some respect and know they will put us under pressure.
“You have to stay calm in those moments and take advantage of the reset. You have to weather storms and then take over again, and this team is capable of that.”
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