Manager Owen Coyle describes the 1-1 run out against Crewe as 'another pleasing exercise'
Owen Coyle has reflected on Bolton's latest stage of pre-season after his team were given another testing workout at the Alexandra Stadium.Saturday's well-balanced friendly against Crewe ended 1-1, with Martin Petrov's first-half penalty cancelling out Max Clayton's opener on 13 minutes.
"All in all, it's another pleasing exercise," said Coyle.
"We knew it would be a tough game because Crewe are still on a high after their win at Wembley and they are a team that like to pass and move.
"Again we passed the ball well and created a number of chances, accepting that we have got Marvin Sordell and David Ngog to come back and offer some more fire power, plus we are looking to add to that department too.
"There's no concern at the moment in front of goal because we are creating chances. We missed some sitters today and their goalkeeper made some fine saves.
"The other players will contribute too and add to the goals. With every game that goes by, we will get sharper.
"For most of the afternoon we had four full-backs playing in defence and it was pleasing to see how they all adjusted.
"We had a number of players missing today. Chris Eagles, Matt Mills, Tim Ream and David Ngog all sat the game out, while Zat Knight went off in the first half.
"With Zat, he felt something and didn't want to aggravate it. At a push we could have put Tim and Matt out there today but we didn't want to risk it and take chances at this stage because we have got three more weeks to build everything up.
"I'm hoping to have most of them, if not all, available for during the week when we play Morecambe."