Home
Record breaker James Trafford can point the way to success for Wanderers at Burton Albion tonight, says Ian Evatt.
The Manchester City keeper, who moved clear of Keith Branagan and David Felgate’s record of 23 clean sheets in a single season with a shut-out at Oxford United on Saturday, has the sort of outlook which will be key to the club’s first-ever victory at the Pirelli Stadium.
Evatt believes Trafford’s ability to shrug off errors and not let them encumber the rest of his game is something other players can follow.
Wanderers found themselves swamped at Burton last season when an early slip at a set piece gifted the Brewers a lead. Just seven minutes later they lead 3-0.
Evatt believes Trafford is also a much-improved player than he was a year ago.
“Matt Gilks has done a terrific job with James,” he told The Bolton News. “Traff has an elite mindset for a goalkeeper. He forgets errors really quickly and moves on, and that is what we need to do as a team. We need that reset button after an error.
“I don’t think we did that last Monday against Cambridge. Luke (Mbete) had made the mistake, gave away the free kick, then he switched off and didn’t reset so his man scored the goal.
“That reset for everyone needs to be there, and it doesn’t have to come from yourself. Every player needs to accept responsibility to switch each other back on if there is a mistake.
“When the ball is dead it is not time to switch off and relax, it should be the time you become alert.”
Burton are fresh from a surprise victory against Sheffield Wednesday and have also beaten Barnsley at home in recent weeks.
Since losing at Portsmouth on February 28, Wanderers have conceded just once in four away games, and Evatt feels his side is starting to learn how to grind out results on the road.
“It comes down to if you do concede one you have to reset and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “We back our strikers and our creative players to get us back in the game.
“We didn’t show resilience at Burton last season, we didn’t show it at Portsmouth this season, but we have shown it away from home just recently so that has to continue.”
Wanderers will once again be without Ricardo Santos, Eoin Toal, Kieran Lee, Luke Mbete, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Jack Iredale and Lloyd Isgrove, with Evatt now down to his last remaining 18 senior players to board the team bus.
Despite all that, should results go in their favour tonight, Bolton could put a five-point gap between themselves and Derby with four games to play.
Performances, admits Evatt, are of secondary importance.
“There should be no negativity about the performance levels, the results should be celebrated with the group we have got at the moment,” he said.
“We have lost some important players but others are standing up at the time we really needed them to do it.
“We have got a long way to go, five games and others have got four. We are in a great position but we know it can change overnight and that we can’t take anything for granted. We have to keep working hard.”
Source