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Ian Evatt is determined not to allow his Wanderers to be damned by faint praise.
Several opposing managers have talked up Bolton’s chances of promotion this season, including Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens, whose side will be looking to dent their chances at Brisbane Road on Saturday.
Wanderers beat Orient 3-2 at the Toughsheet Stadium just before Christmas, after which Wellens claimed that he would “win League One” if he had the resources available to his opposite number.
There has been no shortage of praise of late for Bolton’s progress, including kind words from Luton Town boss Rob Edwards on Tuesday after two closely fought games against his Premier League side in the FA Cup.
Evatt refuses to get carried away, however, and had Wellens in his sights at his post-match press conference yesterday afternoon.
“I appreciate the comments, and what I would say is that a lot of other managers in this division had the opportunity to sign the players that we have done,” he told The Bolton News.
“We have not necessarily taken them from higher up, we have not overspent, we have bought players in from a range of different clubs and got what I consider to be value for money.
“We have worked hard to improve and coach them, seeing them progress and evolve, and they have developed into what we have right now. There has been a lot of thought gone into that squad, not just from me, but from the rest of my staff, Chris Markham and his team. And we are happy with what we have got.
“Now, of course, that brings pressure and every manager wants to deflect from their own team and point the finger at others. That is absolutely fine, we’ll embrace that challenge.
“But as I have said before it is great to hear that people look at us with respect. It is great to hear the comments, and Rob (Edwards) was really complimentary about what we are doing.
“Those words are great but they are just words. Nobody is going to give anything to us, we have to go and earn it.
“When people say we have the best squad in the league, we love the way you play, this has got to be your year, well we need to earn it. We will have to with the games we have left and the given time, and it starts on Saturday. That is our mindset.
“We are not thinking about what could happen, we are thinking about making it happen.
“Are we going to win them all? Probably not. But when we have a negative result we have to respond in the right way. And predominantly we have managed to do that.”
Meanwhile, Orient will run a precautionary pitch inspection at lunchtime to see whether the game goes ahead.
Evatt’s side will train at Lostock as normal and are due to set off for London in the early afternoon – but freezing temperatures across the UK have placed some doubt on the playing surface.
Brisbane Road does not have undersoil heating and though ground-staff have kept the covers on during the worst of the weather, which promises to improve over the next 24 hours, there are areas of the pitch which are more shaded than others.
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