Post-game quotes from interim manager following late defeat at Cardiff City Stadium
Jimmy Phillips addressed the media immediately after Bolton Wanderers’ late defeat at Cardiff City on Saturday afternoon.
A late penalty kick converted by Peter Whittingham denied the Trotters a share of the spoils, after playing much of the game with ten men following Niall Maher’s dismissal for a stray arm.
Zach Clough had given Bolton the lead with a sublime 25-yard free kick only for the hosts to level midway through the second period.
And speaking after the game interim boss Phillips covered the below points.
On Zach Clough’s free kick…
It was a great way to go into the lead. We’ve been needing to get the first goal for a while and that goal gave us a good standing in the game. It gave us something to hold on to. That’s what Zach is capable of and I think throughout the game we saw that he is becoming more of an all-round player now. He showed he was willing to do a job defensively too, which clearly isn’t the strongest aspect of his game.
On Niall Maher’s red card…
We were actually about to make a substitution and bring Stephen Dobbie on in place of Darren Pratley, who had a bit of concussion. At the time I was talking to Stephen, the next thing I know Niall is getting sent off, so didn’t actually see the incident. What I will say is that Niall will learn from the red card. The incident has taken place 30 or so yards from their goal, he didn’t need to make the challenge there.
On the game after the red card…
I think the red card changed the game and we had to change our gameplan. That said, in the second half I felt we had the three clearest chances of the game. On another day we would have scored a goal to have gone two goals up, but it wasn’t to be.
On the players’ performance…
I don’t think we can fault the commitment in the performance. Having gone down to ten men I felt we did everything right. We worked hard and limited Cardiff to tossing a few balls into our box from distance. When those came in our back four dealt with them really well. I think it was a well disciplined and hardworking performance which was pleasing, but at the end of the game we didn’t get anything.
On the remaining two games…
We’re going to keep working with the players until we are told otherwise. We’ll plan for the Hull game as we usually would. Although we have been relegated for some time now, we all have professional pride in our work and it’s important we try and pick up something from our final two games.