"I think Kevin Davies epitomised everything about the football club, not only in the way he took his goal, but his all-round play," said Owen Coyle
Owen Coyle felt Wanderers’ display against in-form Leeds United was worthy of all three points in a game that ended level on Tuesday evening at the Reebok.
Wanderers, backed by a vocal home support, flew out of the traps and dominated the opening half with Kevin Davies opening the scoring.
Either side of half time goals from Sam Byram and Luciano Becchio saw Leeds take the lead against the run of play, though a late onslaught saw Bolton level through Kevin Davies’ second header in a man of the match performance.
Speaking in his post-match press Coyle said: “I thought we were terrific tonight – one of the best performance I’ve seen at the Reebok.
“If we’d have gone four goals up at one point I don’t think it would have been an injustice. We passed and moved the ball around well and the fans were fantastic in really getting behind the team.
“In the second half things got a little difficult, with the award of a non-penalty after we had a stonewaller turned down in the second half when Keith Andrews was fouled.
“We showed a lot of belief and trust in getting ourselves back into the game in the second half.
“I think Kevin Davies epitomised everything about the football club, not only in the way he took his goals, but his all-round play.
“Leeds United will leave tonight wondering how they got a point. There’s no doubt that anyone watching that game will have realised how big the gulf was between the two teams.
“Some of our play was outstanding and we probably could have secured the win, accepting that El-Hadji Diouf had a chance in the last minute.
“There’s no doubt that we responded well to going behind and we need to maintain that standard from now on.
“We want to be sitting in the pole positions – we’re not there yet, but we will be.”