Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt has admitted that Tuesday’s clash at Fratton Park “wasn’t the worst” result for the club ahead of a gruelling run-in.
Derby County travelled to the south coast in midweek to take on League One leaders Portsmouth in what was a huge game for both clubs. The Rams needed to win to add fuel to their hopes of clinching the title by May while a victory for Pompey would have all but mathematically confirmed them as champions. This desire to collect three points across the board caused a stalemate.
Joe Ward opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half, but Norwich City loanee Abu Kamara equalised just four minutes later with a wonderful piece of individual brilliance. Nevertheless, ten minutes before the interval, Derby took the lead once more.
It looked as though Paul Warne’s side would collect all the points as the game crept into the last quarter of an hour. However, a sumptuous strike outside the area by former Carlisle United man Owen Moxon rescued a point for the table-toppers.
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A Portsmouth win would have been the preferred result for Bolton Wanderers as it would have kept Derby County just three points clear as opposed to their current four-point gap on third place but the Trotters’ head coach wasn’t feeling too disheartened by the shared spoils.
With a game in hand, Bolton travel to Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon, hoping to continue their late surge for the final automatic promotion spot. When questioned on the result of Tuesday’s title clash whilst speaking to club media, Evatt remained coy, stating that his side can only win their final five matches of the season to have a chance of overtaking the Rams.
“It wasn’t the worst [result],” Evatt said.
“What it does is it takes a result off the table. If we – and the most important thing is that we do our job – win the remaining games, then it means they have to win all their remaining games as well.
“It’s a big if, but for us, it’s just making sure that we ask the right questions of the ones above us and we can only do that by winning games. It’s tough to win consistently at this level, in this division, and we have to find our best form now.
Writer’s View
Evatt is right. The best chance Bolton Wanderers have of avoiding the lottery of the play-offs is by winning the remainder of their games. However, the biggest problem for the Trotters is that they still have to face Portsmouth and Peterborough United before the season ends.
Meanwhile, Derby have merely four matches remaining, all of which are against weaker opposition – Wycombe Wanderers, Leyton Orient, Cambridge United and Carlisle United. Finishing inside the top two is a massive ask now for Bolton.
Deputy Head of Writing
