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Wanderers have been ordered to put the high drama of High Wycombe to one side and press the “reset button” for another difficult day on the road.
Ian Evatt starts preparations for Charlton Athletic this morning and a chance to climb back into the automatic promotion spots this weekend.
Tuesday night’s frantic finale means Bolton are now just two points behind second-placed Oxford United, who now themselves face Wycombe at the Kassam Stadium.
Evatt wants to keep focus and told his players to leave their celebrations behind in Buckinghamshire to focus fully on another long trip.
“Nothing is given out in October – you wouldn’t believe that, but it isn’t,” he told The Bolton News.
“For us, it is about focussing on our own journey and doing the business for ourselves.
“We have targets, you know our ambition, but it is certainly not entitlement. We are humble enough to know there are 23 other teams in this league that have the same ambition.
“All we can do is work as hard as we possibly can to improve and do the best for this football club, that really is as simple as it is.”
Evatt explained his decision to switch Randell Williams – widely considered man of the match against Northampton – for Will Forrester at Wycombe.
“Will is a brilliant box defender, that is one of his main strengths, and I think we saw that second-half in particular. It was just having more natural defenders and full-backs, really.
“Randell was excellent on Saturday, it was one of his better games for the club. He got a goal and an assist, and he understood that tonight wasn’t going to play to his strengths.
“But the togetherness is there for all to see – they back each other and that is excellent, I am proud of them all. Even the lads who didn’t get on – Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Jack Iredale, Joel Coleman, these lads have been superb for me. We will need them all by the end of the season if we are to get anywhere near achieving our ambition.
“I am proud of them but we have to reset and go again for Saturday. I’m most pleased for the travelling fans because for 750 of them to come down to Wycombe on a Tuesday night is just amazing. The noise they created helped so much.
“To do it for the ownership group, who are based down here and have suffered for years, to do it for them was great too.”
Wanderers were criticised after the Northampton game for letting their opponents back into the game after half time, and having seen their lead whittled away against Wycombe, Evatt accepts his side have some scope to improve.
But he felt the pressure exerted by the home side after the break was something his team would always have to deal with, and he remained happy with the overall display.
“It became more frantic because of that excellent strike after half time, which shifted momentum, but we’re not going to have it all our own way here, we’re just not,” he said.
“I think that’s the most dominant performance we have put on, here, and at times we showed a lot of calmness and class, but you have to respect the opposition. They will have moments.
“But the reaction from my players was outstanding and nobody could argue that we deserved the win.”
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