Bolton Wanderers head coach Steven Schumacher believes his team haven’t got the results they deserve in some of their recent performances.
The Trotters effectively saw their play-off hopes come to an end on Easter Monday when they lost 4-2 to Lincoln City at the LNER Stadium. Despite going two goals down, they fought back to level the score before half time, but fell to a James Collins header and a bizarre Reeco Hackett free kick in the second half.
The result left Bolton six points behind sixth-placed Leyton Orient with two games to play. However, their vastly inferior goal difference means that barring a miraculous swing, another season of League One football is on the cards.
“I Think It Is Confidence” – Schumacher Downbeat
Schumacher replaced Ian Evatt in January, with form almost immediately improving. This saw Bolton move into the play-off places, but just two wins in their last nine has left them off the pace. They are looking for a strong end to the campaign, starting with this weekend’s clash with Peterborough United.
Speaking ahead of the game, the former Stoke City boss believes that confidence in the squad is low, mainly due to some of their performances not getting the results they deserved:
“I think it is confidence. When you are on the run that we have been on, then it can really drain you.
“The Barnsley performance was poor wasn’t it, from start to finish, and the first 20-25 minutes (against Lincoln) was as well. But I don’t think there have been loads of really poor performances, they have just been getting on the end of bad results.
“When you keep getting on the wrong end of those results, sometimes when you feel like you are playing well it can be even worse.
“Like the Rotherham game – we didn’t win that one and we’d played so well, and afterwards I can almost feel that the players were deflated.
“Trying to get them going again, especially with all the injuries we have had, it has been really difficult.”
Writer’s View
After such a positive start to his rein at Bolton, the last six weeks will have been really disappointing for Steven Schumacher. Few would have betted against them reaching the play-offs and their downturn in form has been somewhat of a shock. A good couple of morale boosting wins to finish the season is the only consolation they now have, before they look to go again next season.
