Owen Coyle offers his view on the 2-1 defeat at The Den
Owen Coyle says he and his side are ‘utterly disappointed’ after Darius Henderson’s last-minute winner for Millwall ensured Wanderers left The Den empty handed.
Henderson’s first of the afternoon, a deflected effort through a ruck of players, saw the hosts take the lead on 18 minutes before after the break Bolton hit back through Chris Eagles’ low free-kick.
Eagles was then upended in the penalty area, though from the resulting spot kick the former Burnley man blazed over the bar before Henderson’s popped up to net a late decider.
Speaking in his post-match press, Coyle said: “Standing here right now, this is the worst feeling I’ve ever had in football.
“We were really poor in the first half and I let the players know in no uncertain terms that we simply hadn’t been good enough.
“In the second half we played ever so well, but it’s becoming a reoccurring theme. We were not clinical. We created good chances and we controlled the second half, accepting that they would be looking for the long ball and to play on the counter attack.
“We had a penalty at 1-1 to take the lead. Regardless of the miss and whether or not there was a foul on Zat Knight in the run-up to their second goal – and I’m yet to see it back – we still should have had enough about us to see the game out.
“We’ve shown it fits and starts the quality that we have but we have not been consistently good and that is really hard to take.
“There were almost 500 Wanderers fans who travelled down and backed us today and I have to thank them for their support. They really got behind the players and drove them forward and we’re utterly disappointed not to have sent them home happy on the back of a win.”