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Ian Evatt is confident he can rely on the full backing of Wanderers’ fans as his side attempt to bounce back from their mini slump in League One.
After suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time in more than a year, Bolton welcome Leyton Orient on Saturday attempting to spread a bit of festive cheer.
With ticket prices slashed to £10 for adults and £5 for concessions, it seems likely that the 20,000-mark will be hit for the seventh time this season in a league game.
Evatt complimented supporters for staying with his side against Bristol Rovers last weekend, when a poor first half show left them 2-0 down with 10 men after Ricardo Santos’s red card. Things improved after the interval – Eoin Toal grabbing a consolation towards the end - but the Whites still found themselves nursing a second defeat in five days, having been turned over in the televised game at Portsmouth earlier that week.
The Wanderers boss remains calm despite his side dropping to fifth in the table, secure in knowledge they could return to the automatic promotion places if they win their game in hand.
He believes the experience of coming through such dips in form before will help his players get themselves back on track.
“The fans stuck with us, 100 per cent, and they should do as well because it isn’t very often that we have let them down,” he told The Bolton News.
“It has happened. Every season I have been here there has been moments and spells, we seem to be having one at the moment, but we have always come back strong and they shouldn’t lose their faith or their belief in us.
“We certainly won’t lose that belief within ourselves, within the group of players and coaching staff, and I think the way they played in the second half showed that.
“The fans have been absolutely brilliant this season and I’m sure that will continue. It’s up to us now to make sure we reset, go again and give them something to be happier about on Saturday.”
Wanderers haven’t lost three league games in a row for two years, when Evatt’s injury-hit squad limped through December and early January and lost at Accrington, Fleetwood, Rotherham and at home to Wycombe.
Striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson feels the current squad still has to work on achieving the necessary consistency for a team with promotion aspirations.
“It isn’t a given thing, consistency, and it is one of the most important things for a team and for individuals if they want to be successful,” he said.
“There is no problem coming to training every day or kicking a ball around but it is a hard thing to do it well, every week. It’s a key thing learning to do that as a football player, generally in life, you want to be consistent at work and it is what the best ones do.
“If we are going to be up there at the end, it is really important that we work on that and become better. We need to be consistent, for sure.”
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Wanderers have sold out the away end for the Boxing Day trip to Lincoln City, and will be followed by just over 1,900 supporters at the LNER Stadium.
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