Winger happy to have hit the target at St Andrew's but frustrated to have left with no points
Chris Eagles was understandably pleased to find the back of the net at St Andrew’s on Tuesday night – but the winger was quick to stress that he would have traded his fourth goal of the season for points.
The 26-year-old, who also provided two assists in the weekend win over Watford, buried a 30-yard free-kick just before half-time to draw Wanderers back level.
But a Marlon King penalty after half-time – a decision Eagles felt was extremely harsh on Bolton – won the game for the hosts.
“To be fair, we played well tonight,” Eagles said after the full-time whistle.
“For their first goal, the right-back slipped behind our defence after we got too far forward. The second goal just wasn’t a penalty – the referee made the decision and he didn’t really know what had happened. Adam (Bogdan) caught the ball and the linesman flagged, but it was one of those things.
“In the second half we created so many chances – it’s just frustrating. Nothing went in and I think I had something like eight shots.
“If you look at the games we have played, we have conceded six goals inside the first 15 minutes of the second half. It’s showing that we are not concentrating and we can’t be doing that.
“It’s something we need to lock down because we are leaking silly goals. They aren’t even good goals – the only one I can think of that was a good goal we have conceded this season was the long-range shot against Nottingham Forest, which was a screamer.
“I was really pleased to get it back to 1-1 at half-time and we were looking to push on and win the game. Saying that, a draw would have been a point gained away from home.
“They were pinned back throughout the whole second half but we have to finish our chances. We have to make the keeper work and although he made a few good saves, I still think we need to be more clinical.”
Next up for Wanderers on Saturday afternoon is the club’s first trip to Hillsborough since January 2001.
Eagles added: “A point on Tuesday would have got an unbeaten run going and would have meant four points out of six.
“No game is easy and we can’t disrespect anyone. On the day it matters who is the better team and we have to make sure that it is us on Saturday.
“We get two or three wins now we move towards the top of the table and everyone forgets this loss, but the thing is that we have got to get those.”