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‘Mystic’ Ian Evatt told Dapo Afolayan he was going to score the winner at Fleetwood minutes before it happened.
The Wanderers boss had a feeling his side were going to complete their incredible comeback during injury time and that it would be last season’s top scorer, Afolayan, who would get the job done.
Bolton had piled incessant pressure on the Fleetwood goal in the second half but only found the equaliser five minutes from the end of normal time via Conor Bradley.
“We just needed one to go in, didn’t we, and then you could see the confidence come flooding back,” Evatt said. “Dapo will tell you, I literally said a couple of minutes before that he would score the winner.
“I’m not claiming to be ‘Mystic Ian’ or anything but I just felt that a big chance was going to fall to him, that we were going to get another big chance and it was a lovely bit of magic from Josh Sheehan in the box and a very good finish.”
Evatt – who had celebrated his 41st birthday on Saturday – cut a relatively serene figure in a chaotic second half, which has not always been the case this season.
The Whites boss said he had faith his players would make the breakthrough after falling behind to Carlos Mendes Gomes’ 17th minute opener.
“I’ve got an immense belief in my team and my players. I see what they do day to day. We spoke about the data and the statistics in the week and a lot of things that we’re doing is absolutely right.
“I could sense the way that they were performing today was exactly what I asked for. Sometimes you get what you deserve, sometimes you don’t, but I was really calm. I’m getting older now and I need to calm down but today, I just had a huge amount of belief with the players.
“There’s a huge togetherness, they’ve all just sung happy birthday to me which was really nice! We are a work in progress, we are still developing and improving, but that’s the best we’ve played away from home for a long time.”
Wanderers also put six of their 18 shots on target, and Evatt was pleased to see better decision making around the penalty box than there had been in the last two games against Barnsley and Cambridge United.
“I don’t think we were erratic,” he said. “I think we didn’t shoot on sight, we still probed and picked the right passes at the right times. We put some good balls into the box, sometimes we were in the right positions and sometimes not.
“That is development and work on the training ground and we’ll keep working really hard to improve that, but to come away from home against a team that’s really challenging and difficult to beat in a really difficult stadium which we felt last season, to dominate the game like we did and play like we did today has made me immensely proud.”
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