Read Phil Parkinson's post-match thoughts after Wanderers rounded off their week-long training camp in Scotland with a 2-1 win over Dundee.
In a dominant first half performance, goals from Gary Madine and Josh Vela were enough to see Wanderers make it three pre-season wins from three at Dens Park.
We’re pleased to win. We want to show that mentality to win and I felt we did that as a group.
Even when the youngsters came on and we were in an unfamiliar shape, they stuck to the job and made sure we got the result.
In the first half we played really well. We controlled the game for long periods and got two good goals.
Dundee came into it a bit in the second half and it was always going to become a bit disjointed when we made wholesale changes.
The lads who came on stuck at the task and helped us see the game through which is important.
We kept the ball really well, took the sting out of the game at times and looked a threat.
The two widemen could both cut inside and cause them problems so it was a good benchmark for us in terms of fitness and certainly a progression.
On choosing Scotland…
We knew coming to Scotland that the players here would be ahead in their preparations.
Their first competitive game is on Tuesday while their first league game is the week before us so they’re right up to speed and it was a difficult game.
Sometimes when you go abroad into Europe in pre-season, it is difficult to judge the types of games that you are going to get.
But coming to Scotland, we knew it was a fairly safe bet that the standard of games would be good.
The Scots always want to beat the English so we’ve had two competitive games.
On his side's two goals and goalscorers...
It was a good ball by Mark Beevers and an excellent finish by Gaz. It’s good for him and Josh Vela, who did what he did on a regular basis last season by scoring a great goal.
We’ve also got to thank Mark Howard for one absolutely outstanding save in the second half where he tipped one over the crossbar to make sure we got the win.
On Sammy Ameobi...
We’re pleased with Sammy. He was obviously behind the other lads in terms of his preparations so we only gave him 45 minutes.
It was important that we got that deal signed today because I wanted him to play so he didn’t fall further behind the rest of the lads.
He’s come in and is in good physical shape. He worked hard on his own in the off-season.
We just need to help him continue to progress and get him ready for the start of the season.
On Derik Osede's return from injury...
It was good for Derik to get some minutes. He’s looked very fit in pre-season but has had a slight problem with his Achilles.
It’s not too serious but we have had to manage it. I thought he did well when he came on and he has trained well towards the end of this week.
That’s half an hour under his belt now and we hope to get him some more minutes as we progress this week.
On transfers...
It was good to see so many of them up here again tonight. Hopefully they can see the squad gradually forming.
It takes time and you have to be patient sometimes. We know we still have work to be done but the transfer window doesn’t close until the end of August.
We need to be stronger in terms of numbers before the start of the season, in terms of cover and the starting XI as well.
But we’re working towards that. Hopefully this time next week, we will have added one or two more quality players to the group and we’ll keep improving things step by step.
And finally, on the week as a whole and returning home...
We train tomorrow morning, have something to eat and then head back home.
It’s been a very successful week for us and it was important we finished the week off well because this was the biggest game.
We’re pleased with where we have stayed as the facilities have been first class.
The training and attitudes of the lads has been excellent and I feel it has been a very beneficial week.
It’s good to get the lads away together, as it was last year, and it’s good for the staff to be together in that time to discuss things and look at where we are as a squad.
We’ve enjoyed it and now look forward to getting back to Bolton, getting back to the training ground on Monday morning and getting back to work.