After Bolton Wanderers’ 2-0 victory over Cambridge United on Saturday afternoon, manager Ian Evatt’s comments surfaced, raising speculation about his potential exit this summer.
Evatt acknowledged that it had been a “tough week” for the team and himself with back-to-back defeats to Wigan Athletic and Blackpool, as well as freely discussing the personal toll it had taken.
“No,” Evatt said to The Bolton News. This week hasn’t been enjoyable for me, at all. It has depleted me immensely. And as I’ve previously stated, I have 11 games left before I reset in the summer and consider my options.
Ahead of a crucial match at Oakwell on Tuesday night against Barnsley—a Tykes team that defeated Bolton over two legs in the League One playoffs—many Trotters supporters were incensed and upset by this.
However, whether intentional or not, it seems as though Evatt’s comments and frank honesty have galvanised both the players and the fan base – as illustrated by the second half performance at Oakwell.
Bolton fight back against at Oakwell
With their campaign for automatic promotion drastically faltering, Bolton found themselves facing down the barrel of a third loss in four League One games on Tuesday. Donovan Pines’ goal put them behind 2-0 early in the second half, but what occurred next caught everyone off guard.
Wanderers under Evatt are generally destined for a loss or a dull draw against one of the league’s best clubs and a fellow promotion contender, but Bolton demonstrated a genuine will to battle back and steal a point.
Aaron Collins assisted Victor Adeboyejo to get a goal back for the Whites with around half an hour to go before Randell Williams reacted quickest to put in the rebound from Josh Sheehan’s saved penalty deep into second-half stoppage-time.
It wasn’t just the result, though, Wanderers created plenty of chances and openings to win the game twice over in the final stages with George Thomason, Collins, Cameron Jerome, Paris Maghoma (twice) and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson all having opportunities that they would fancy themselves to score if given another chance.
It was the fifth time in nine matches that Bolton have had to drag themselves from a losing position to take something from the match so perhaps may not be indicative of anything too different but the way in which they went about it suggested there has been a shift.
At Wigan last week, Bolton dominated the ball but offered very little potency or incision, whereas against Barnsley they were able to drag their opponents from pillar to post. Rather than relying on individual quality, like had been the case against Cambridge United when they came from behind to win a fortnight ago at the Abbey Stadium, this was a comeback built upon simply overwhelming Barnsley with a speed of movement and passing that has not necessarily been seen often at Bolton recently.
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