Evatt: We Have The Belief

Ian Evatt expects the belief in the camp to pull Wanderers through their current rough patch as their winless away run was extended at Accrington Stanley.

A first-half goal from Tommy Leigh was enough to hand the Whites a sixth successive away League One loss as Evatt’s men again failed to find the target.

But Evatt believes the first-half chances his injury-hit side created at the Wham Stadium should have yielded some reward.

And the Bolton boss insists things will turn once he has more selection options at his disposal.

“We should have scored three in the first half and we conceded a really poor goal,” said Evatt.

“I think 3-1 in the first half would have been a fair score. We had the chances first half to put the game out of sight and didn’t take them. We have to take them.

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“People are going to criticise us. Some of it rightly so, some of it not, but we will keep our composure, keep our belief and keep fighting.

“We’re a strong group. We have good confidence, good belief.

“I have a massive belief in myself and, fortunately for me, the board have a huge belief in me as well and things will turn.

“We know we want improvement, we need improvement but that will come.

“I thought our fans – the majority – were outstanding and backed us and backed the players as much as they possibly could.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted but we’ll move onto next week and do the best we can.”

Wanderers – who gave a start to teenager Adam Senior on his return from a loan spell at York City – were again down to the bare bones with defender Will Aimson added to the list of absentees after testing positive for Covid.

However, skipper Ricardo Santos will be back from a ban to face Wycombe next weekend in the first of back-to-back home games.

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And striker Amadou Bakayoko may also return to add to the goal threat with Evatt insisting his current crop of players is doing everything they can after reacting positively to the disappointing mid-week loss at Fleetwood.

“The lads have given everything. Again, we’re missing six, I would argue, that would start the game and sometimes we have the drop-off,” he added.

“But I can’t ask any more, especially from the young players. Adam Senior was outstanding, I thought George Thomason standing up to be counted.

“They are doing the best they can for this football club and they need to keep positive.

“This is going to be a tough time for everybody. Today was better than Tuesday, but just not the result we wanted.

“But we have to keep fighting and keep positive. These boys are trying their very best – the ones who are available.

“Players are coming back all the time, things will change.

“We’re not happy with where we are. We’re not happy with the results, we’re not happy with some performances.

“But our hands are tied. We are limited with options.

“We have to keep fighting and show we are worth it. We showed it last season and we will show it again this season.”

To watch the manager's full post-match interview, click HERE

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