Bolton Wanderers captain Ricardo Santos knows that his team are more than in the fight for promotion but hasn’t held back on some rather lacklustre performances.
Although Bolton may have gained all three points in their clash with relegation-threatened Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night, they’d only manage a 1-0 win. The Robins were also denied a point after a goal was wrongfully disallowed for offside.
Alas, three points are more important than performances at this point in the season and it’s very much all about getting through these tough games at the minute. Having endured a surprise 1-0 loss to an in-form Leyton Orient side last Saturday, it was about responding effectively for Evatt’s side and they bounced back with the win on Tuesday.
Following on from that win against Cheltenham, the Trotters have as a result leapfrogged Derby County to go into third place in the League One table. Now just two points off of the top, with two games in hand, their sole ambition for the season is now promotion.
A player who has been ever present throughout the season and has been a key part of the success, is centre-half Ricardo Santos. The Portuguese defender already has one promotion on his CV with the club, and will be looking to add another this season.
Speaking to The Bolton News, Santos gave his views on the recent performances as well as the current state of the dressing room.
“I am happy with the win but performance-wise, I think we could have been a lot better.”
“We took a hard one on Saturday and I think we kind of showed spells of that (against Cheltenham). But it was all about the result to shake off the cobwebs and hopefully we will back to our normal selves on Saturday.”
“Since I have been here, those are the games we have kind of struggled with – when teams put it on us,” he reflected.
“(There were honest words) after the weekend – between everyone and not just the gaffer. We have got a good group here, an honest group, and nobody takes it in a bad way. It is all positive and for a good reason.
“There was a bit of that, and I would like to say it helped. We just want to keep winning and pushing on.”
Writer’s View
Saturday’s result against Leyton Orient was a tough one to take for Bolton, especially with all three teams above them at the time picking up points. It was a good response against Cheltenham on Tuesday but as Santos said it wasn’t their best performance.
That being said, Ian Evatt has a side who are able to get through these tough games and grind out results. That’ll be incredibly important come the end of the season and Bolton are fully expected to be in the fight for promotion.
Senior Editor
