Ian Evatt praised Wanderers’ resolve and ruthlessness as they romped to a 4-1 win at Stevenage.Goals from Ricardo Santos, John McAtee, Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles secured a deserved win which returns the Whites to the play-off positions in League One.
Stevenage posed plenty of questions to Bolton’s defence throughout 90 minutes but Evatt was delighted with the way his side held firm and hit hard when their moment came to attack.
He said: “There wasn’t a great deal wrong with it, to be honest, we started the game so well, we were so brave playing through our sixes and playing into the 10s, which we knew would cause them problems. They were in the half-spaces which ask defenders questions and make them come out of the slots, I was one of them, it makes them uncomfortable.
“We probed and scoring from two set plays against a physically dominant team is important.
“I thought we dealt with their pressure really well. We defended the box really well.
“None of their pressure was from open play. It was all from set plays and that can sometimes give you a misleading perception of the way the game is going. But we dealt with them well, there were a lot of set plays, there always is here.
“Some of the fresh legs were coming on angry with a point to prove. I don’t mind that. And they helped to get us over the line but I thought it was an exceptional result in a difficult place to come.”
Evatt named an unchanged side for the first time this season, a decision he said was fuelled by wanting to reward the players who had played so well against Peterborough at the weekend.
He said: “I thought it was an excellent performance and sometimes you have to reward the ones who have performed in that way. It is probably sometimes the wrong message to change a team that has performed so well.
“They want the reward of staying in the team if they do what I ask them to do. They did that on Saturday and they have again tonight.
“The players coming off the bench were outstanding – Scotty, Randell, Klaidi, Dion and Will, who came on in difficult circumstances. It is a squad game and I don’t mind them being angry at me so long as they perform in that way. I want my job to be difficult.”
Wanderers have now won six from eight, moving into sixth spot in the table, and now sit just three points off the automatic spots.
Evatt came under serious pressure after a poor start but has been delighted by the way his team has turned things around.
“I think you have all known me long enough to know I am not shy and short of confidence, which can be a positive and a negative at times, I guess. But if I don’t believe in myself then how can I get anyone else to believe in me? That is the way I see it,” he said.
“The reaction post-Huddersfield has been top, outstanding even. As a club we have managed ourselves incredibly well, with dignity, and class. We have found it tough but we have responded with six wins from eight, and a draw, that’s an outstanding run.
“We are nowhere near where we want to be but also we are nowhere near the level I believe we can get to. We will have players returning, we have two cup and one league game before the break, which I think comes at a good time, and I am proud of the players – it’s not me, the staff, it’s them who have come through to get results to fire us up the league.”
The only blot on Bolton’s copybook at Stevenage was an injury sustained to captain, Eoin Toal, who pulled up with a hamstring problem midway through the first half.
“There is nothing we can do about that,” Evatt said. “We are being challenged and tested but it’s part of football. You can see at the very top of the game with all the facilities and sports science at Arsenal, but they are going through a similar thing at the moment.
“Sometimes you go through these spells but we just have to have that next man up mentality and the lads who are coming in are doing a great job.”
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Alex Revell says his Stevenage side gave themselves a "mountain to climb” against Wanderers due to mistakes.Early goals from Ricardo Santos and John McAtee saw the Whites seize control of the game at the Lamex Stadium.
Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles also struck in the second half, although Dan Kemp did pull one back for the hosts.
“If you make mistakes, you get punished against good teams,” Revell told the club channels. “Ultimately, we had a 15-minute spell in the first half where they showed their quality and caused us problems in terms of that width that they got.
“They are a possession based team and they are going to have possession against you, but we concede two set pieces against a team who play free flowing football.
“If you don’t mark and give players time in the box, they score goals. Once it went 2-0 and we sussed out what we had to do, we started to show stuff on the ball.
“But even then, there were too many turnovers and we kept giving the ball away. When you play a team like these and they break on you at pace, they have good players in certain areas and they punish you.”
He added: “The third goal was a mistake, an air swing, and it goes straight to the lad with the goal in front of him.
“The fourth, I think Taye (Ashby-Hammond) should save. We have to look at it and it has been a tough week in terms of results.”
Stevenage skipper Carl Piergianni had a penalty shout turned down by referee Carl Brook moments before Adeboyejo’s goal.
“It is a penalty,” Revell insisted. “I think when you look back, the one on Saturday (against Rotherham) wasn’t but that is.
“For some reason, we don’t get them here when we have those opportunities. If that goes 2-1, it is the same as when we scored – all of a sudden belief and we look like the team that is going to go on again.
“We have a chance at the back post, we have shots and you are thinking if one of those goes in, the comeback is there.
“But the minute you gather that momentum, the ball ends up in the net and you can see the players, that confidence in getting back into the game drains.
“We have to look at that because, when you defend certain situations and crosses, teams like this are going to have the ball.
“It is about making sure you are defensively solid but also when we win it, we have to break, get forward and get goals.”
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