Ian Evatt has explained he has been working hard to remain composed on the touchline of late in a bid to give the best version of himself for Bolton Wanderers.
The Whites boss served a one game touchline ban earlier on this season after receiving four bookings from match officials. It followed his protestations to decisions in his technical area to the officials.
Since then and certainly in highly charged games on the road to Fleetwood Town and in Friday evening's draw at home versus Bristol Rovers, Evatt has remained calm. It was not the case for opposite number Joey Barton on Friday, with the Gas boss being shown a yellow card.
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Evatt has explained how he has worked on staying composed on the touchline and focusing on his team. He believes it gives his players the best version of himself if he does so and is something he is directing his energies into.
He said: “I’m working really hard on myself to stay composed, stay calm and focus my energies on my team, simple as that. I think once I lose my focus with the opposition, with the referees, with the fourth official, the team are getting a lesser and weaker version of myself.
“I’m trying to really focus on supporting the players, giving them the right information at the correct time and for me to be able to do that, I need to be calm. I’m trying really hard with that.”
Wanderers came from behind to claim a point against the Gas in a 1-1 draw. Dion Charles struck in injury time to ensure a share of the spoils, after Josh Coburn had put the visitors in front early on.
Evatt believes Wanderers need to be more composed in the final third and sometimes take the extra time in the box that they do have on occasions in order to find the back of the net. He was pleased Charles was back on the scoresheet, with his seventh strike of the campaign.
He said: “That’s the one thing I would say I was most disappointed with was our real composure in the final third. We’re trying to recreate these chaotic situations that you find in the opposition box in training and it is just taking that extra second and sometimes the players have more time than they actually think.
“It’s not just the centre forwards, it’s a shared responsibility but other than that, there’s so much right about what we’re doing. We’re doing a lot of good things, we just have to keep our faith, keep our belief, stick to them and work extremely hard on the training ground to put things right.
“There isn’t a lot wrong, there really isn’t. There’s a lot to like about what we’re doing and we’ll keep going.
“It was a great strike and I’m really pleased for him because he’s really felt the pressure. This is a huge football club with massive expectation and when you’re the number nine, that expectation pretty much lies on your door.
“But he kept going, he missed a big opportunity but the pleasing thing for me was that could have easily rocked him, but it didn’t kept on going and got what he deserved in the end.”
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