In his own words: Neil Lennon post-Birmingham

Post-game quotes from the manager following Bolton’s 1-0 defeat at Birmingham

Neil Lennon spoke to the media following Bolton’s 1-0 defeat away at Birmingham City on Tuesday evening.

Clayton Donaldson’s goal midway through the opening period ultimately secured victory for the hosts in what was an otherwise event-less game at St Andrew’s.

And speaking after the game the manager covered the below points.

On the result…
I thought we were unlucky. The goal we gave away was pretty poor, but overall for large parts of the game I felt we were the better side. We just lacked a bit of a cutting edge and luck in the final third. We had a really good spell after half time and if we could have just nicked a goal I felt we would have gone on to win it.

On the first half substitution of Dorian Dervite…
He’s been carrying a knock on his knee for some time now. He has been playing with that injury for some time now and that looks like it may have caught up with him. We’re hoping it’s not too serious.

On scoring goals…
That has been our problem for some time now. We didn’t work their goalkeeper enough, regardless of our team tonight. Emile Heskey was a big miss for us tonight. We feel we are playing well, accepting that we are a little lightweight in that area. 

On Gary Madine’s absence…
We’ve dealt with an internal matter. We feel he has let himself and the club down. No player is bigger than the club, so we have dealt with that situation in what we feel was the best way. The situation isn’t permanent, so depending on what happens he could come into our thinking for Saturday.

On Ben Amos’ injury…
We’re expecting him to be out for around three to six weeks. He has ligament damage in his ankle. We had looked at bringing in an emergency loan deal but we were rebuffed on that front. Paul Rachubka stepped in tonight and did very well. He made a great save in the second half and looked assured and sure footed.

On the remainder of the season…
We’ve got 13 games to go. They are all big games and we need as many players as fit as possible. I still believe that if we keep playing as we are results will turn. We believe we are playing well enough to get out of this position, we just need that bit of cutting edge to go and win games.

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