Ian Evatt believes his Bolton Wanderers side shot themselves in the foot in the loss to Sheffield Wednesday as he listed off the qualities the Owls have which helped them to victory.
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.
Evatt believes the Owls are a strong and powerful side and showed gamesmanship against the Whites. Following the first loss of the season, the Bolton boss has backed his side to respond and go on another unbeaten run after it ended on 13 games.
Evatt said: "The half-time message was they had to believe. They had to believe that they could get one goal that would change how they feel and how we feel and how the stadium feels. We didn’t quite get that goal, we had one or two moments, but they’re strong, they’re powerful, they’re experienced, their gamesmanship.
“The game had no rhythm or flow to it second half because it wasn’t allowed to have that. The keeper going down injured, the old Wycombe one (David Stockdale), it’s just frustrating that there’s only four or five minutes added on because it doesn’t really matter if you add 20 or 30 minutes on, it’s the momentum that’s lost and you never really get that time back.
“That’s our own doing, our own downfall. They’re a super experienced team, a good team, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot today.
“I have no doubt about it. They’ve got to just dust themselves down now, shake this feeling off and get ready for Tuesday because that’s going to be a really tough game (vs Aston Villa).
“Amazing (attendance) and obviously disappointed that we didn’t get the result but I think it shows the trajectory of where we’re heading and how we’ve been doing. We’re really disappointed to lose today and it’s how we react as a club to defeats which will really define our season.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, the fans will be disappointed, but we have to pick ourselves up and go again.”
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