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Ian Evatt insists his Wanderers side will be promoted from League One if they can replicate the type of performance they put in against champions-elect Portsmouth.
Though a 1-1 draw surrendered the advantage once again to Derby County in the race for second spot, the Bolton boss found it difficult to pick holes in a determined display.
Aaron Collins’s header cancelled out Abu Kamara’s early goal, but Wanderers then missed a handful of excellent chances to go ahead, leaving the majority of a bumper home crowd feeling blue.
Speaking after the game, Evatt said: “It is frustrating because it is hard to be too critical of the players, they are a team that has only lost four times all season and they are extremely resilient. They are top of the league for a reason.
“Barring the first 10 minutes, where we conceded a really poor goal in transition to their most dangerous player, from a loose throw in, we dominated and had enough opportunities to win. That is the frustrating thing. We hit the post, missed a couple of big chances, they had one shot on target all game and scored with it.
“We had 19 shots to their five, five or six on target. When you watch a game sometimes you get a feel for who is the most dominant side, and then sometimes the data backs up that feeling. Today that was the case.
“It is hard to be critical of the players because that was a good performance and deserved more. Now we have to pick everybody up – the players, the fans, everyone. We haven’t lost it, we know in football and we’ve all been around the game long enough to know there can be twists and turns, the most important thing for us is to get it back to a point on Tuesday. After that, you never know at the weekend.
“We have a job to do now because the players are disappointed. They know we should have won that game.”
Wanderers are the second-highest scorers in League One but have suffered on occasion for missing big chances, at key moments in finely poised games such as this.
While Evatt was pleased with the performance, he admitted some of the penalty box detail should have been better.
“The one that Jon cut back, Aaron really should have made the run to the six-yard box and then Paris was free to tap in, but because he checked out it took the ball away from Paris. We weren’t quite on the right wavelength at that point,” he said.
“Nobody can be disappointed with the way we played today. I know there will be disappointment with the result but that really shows you how far we have come as a team. We haven’t lost anything today – but over the course of the season we have left points out there. We have suffered injuries to key players down the spine of the team but it is back together now and I think it’s important that we have to create that atmosphere again on Tuesday and then again on Saturday, see what happens.
Evatt now has to lift his players for Tuesday night’s game against Shrewsbury Town where his side will seek to take advantage of their game in hand against Derby and narrow the gap to one point again, with two games to play.
The Bolton boss says he has faith that his players will produce the goods.
He said: “I am OK, I am mentally strong and I’ve been through a lot of adversity in my life, which has led me to valuable lessons. I have belief in myself and if it’s me that has to pick everyone up, I’ll do it, if I have to carry every one of them, I’ll do it. I know how good those players, this club, this fanbase is. And we want to create something magical here.
“I know the players and the fans will be disappointed this evening but, hopefully, with some perspective, they will see tomorrow that we are not quite out of it yet.
“There are three ways to get promoted and we’re humble enough to say that one of those has gone now. But there are two more available and if we perform like that, I believe we will be promoted.
“Our aim has to be to keep playing like that now. The squad is getting stronger all the time, it is great to have Dion back and maybe a sharper Dion Charles puts that in the back of the net? It will come.
“We have to be positive. It doesn’t matter how we get there, we just have to try and get there next season. There are two more avenues open and we will be giving it our all to try and make that happen.”
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