Bolton Wanderers lost their unbeaten start to the season as the Whites suffered a home defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.
The Whites went close to taking the lead in a tight opening half an hour which they edged. Liverpool loanee Conor Bradley put wide from a glorious one-on-one opportunity.
And not long after that, the Owls took the lead when the visitors capitalised following a big error which nearly resulted in an own goal for Bolton skipper Ricardo Santos. George Byers slotted home following that as Wanderers failed to react quickly enough.
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The Owls scored a quick second not long after as Liam Palmer put them two up heading into half-time. Jack Iredale forced David Stockdale into action in the second half in perhaps the closest Wanderers came to pulling one back as they slipped to a 2-0 loss.
After the game, Wanderers boss Ian Evatt spoke to the press and here's his immediate reaction.
What was the most disappointing aspect of that?
“Probably our reaction to the first goal. I think we were on top of the game actually. I think we were in control and in the ascendancy, we just had a brilliant chance and as we know the first goal in these games is always vital.
“The mistake for the first goal, mistakes happen, especially when we’re asking the players to play this way. You are going to make errors but I think it’s the reaction to the mistake is the most important thing. We didn’t react and get back quickly enough and didn’t mark in the box.
“The second goal came off the back of that mistake because it rocked us. Concede one, never two, and then it’s an uphill battle.”
It’s the first defeat of the season - you made another five changes and five changes during the game as well…
“We can because that team is the one that played against Wycombe, which was very good, played against Port Vale, so it’s been doing well. That’s our first defeat in 14 games and only the fourth since the second week in January, so it feels strange today and that’s credit to the players that the run’s been that good.
“We’re not used to losing games and it’s a horrible feeling that we’ve kind of forgotten about. But it’s the reaction to adversity which is the most important thing. That’s gone now and there’s nothing we can do to change it. We have to just react positively and make sure we perform well on Tuesday.”
Any specific areas that you were disappointed with and do you put it down as a bad day at the office?
“What is a bad day at the office? For me, it was us that was on the ascendancy, it was us trying to do things, and it was us that had the real big chance early on.
“But then mistakes happen and that kind of changed the dynamic of the game, in terms of them having something to hang on to. I don’t think they had a great deal other than that.
“I don’t think they’ve created lots, I think they had one chance second half and just the chance for the first half, but other than that I think it’s been pretty much all us.”
Some suggest you can learn more in defeat than you can in victory - what have you learnt today?
“I’ve learnt that I don’t like this feeling very much. I kind of forgot how it feels. I’ve also learnt that as I said, mistakes happen, it does happen in football, but especially when we play this way and it’s how you react to those mistakes.
“If you give the ball away in a poor area then you have to react really quickly and your team mates have to react really quickly to try and get the team out the mess. Once that goal goes in, it’s a reset and it has to be a reset and it can’t become two because then you really are fighting an uphill battle and we’ll learn lots from today. It’s not game over, it’s not end of season, it’s one defeat, it does not feel nice but it’s how we respond now.”
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