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Ian Evatt reckons his Wanderers are “light years” ahead of the sides who followed them into League One.
Currently 11th and seven points off the play-off spots following Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Morecambe, the Bolton boss has not given up on chasing down a play-off spot in the final nine games.
But even if the Whites are unsuccessful in their pursuit, Evatt believes the club can be proud of their progress, coming just a year after the played in the fourth tier for only the second time in their history.
“It is important we have some perspective,” he said after the final whistle at the UniBol. “As much as we want to be promoted, we are a newly promoted team and if you look at all the other newly promoted teams, they’re a long way behind where we are.
“That speaks volumes for our recruitment. I think we’re light years ahead of them.
“I think that’s been proved tonight but you have to understand that they’re trying to win football matches the way they can.
“We have to be better and do better with some of our detail.
“I think everybody knows the game should have been all over within the first 20 minutes, it wasn’t and then we caused ourselves problems but we’ll keep improving, we’ll stay grounded and we know there’s more to come.”
Last season's fellow promoted sides are currently placed in the bottom half of the table with Cambridge United 13th, Cheltenham Town 14th and Morecambe 21st.
Evatt conceded that Wanderers did get a slice of luck when a second half penalty appeal against Ricardo Santos was turned down by referee Chris Sarginson.
Amadou Bakayoko also had a claim rejected in the first half in what proved a tempestuous game.
“I’m frustrated but we also probably got away with it a little bit,” he said. “It probably evened itself out.
“We feel on Baka it was a penalty in the first half and it looked like a penalty for them second half, so maybe we got a bit of the rub of the green as well.
“But when you have 80 per cent possession and 22 shots you should win the games.”
Evatt hopes his players can heed some of the lessons from a night where they were too easily frustrated by the Shrimps, losing their composure at the end of the first half.
“We win or we learn and tonight we’ve learned,” he said. “I think that’s the motto and ethos we have to have.
“The more we gain in reputation, the more we’re going to come up against that type of thing and we have to learn to deal with it emotionally.
“That’s us on the side as well and also in game and not become embroiled in some of the spoiling tactics or embroiled with the atmosphere in the stadium.
“We have to stay focused on what we’re trying to do because when we get it right, we’re really difficult to play against, but it’s about managing those emotions and staying calm and composed and believing in the process, trust the process and what we’re trying to do because it’s really good when we get it right.”
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