Ian Evatt believes the Bolton Wanderers strikeforce had not become poor overnight as he backed them to hit form after finding their shooting boots again in the win over Leeds United's under-21s.
Evatt made eight changes from the side which drew against Barnsley over the weekend for the Papa John's Trophy clash. It was one of the three players he kept faith in, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, who put the Whites ahead in the first half as he turned home a cross from the returning Lloyd Isgrove.
Wanderers doubled their lead after the break when Amadou Bakayoko fired home from close range following Conor Bradley's shot being saved by Joel Robles. Kieran Sadlier added a third before full-time to put the 3-0 victory beyond doubt.
The Whites had gone the last three games without hitting the back of the net. The club's strikers had been told that more was needed from them amid the club's mini goal drought.
After two of them, Bodvarsson and Bakayoko plus an attacking midfielder in the form of Sadlier, found the back of the net, Evatt believes the frontmen merely had a blip and took the chances they created versus Leeds. The Bolton chief feels if they can combine thir recent defensive solidity with potency going forwards, they can be a decent side.
He said: “That hitting the back of the net is a good feeling. I think strikers want that feeling and they’ve taken it on themselves and taken it personally that people are criticising them, as they should, but we have a huge amount of belief in them.
“They don’t become poor strikers overnight, they’ve had a bad week, that’s it, before that we were doing really well. I think we did a lot right on Saturday, completely dominated the game and at Forest Green second half, we did a lot right as well. It’s just about those moments and we took those tonight.
“I think it’s easy to speak about goals. It’s not like we’re not creating and a lot’s been made out of it. I think I saw a stat about the club’s defensive record, that isn’t because we sit men behind the ball and we sacrifice possession. We’re controlling games with the ball. Our pressing strategy is very good and we’ve improved our possession no doubt, and when you manage the ball and you manage transitions, you keep clean sheets and we’re going that back to front really well.
“It’s just we need to piece it all together now and these strikers are the same ones from the second half of last season that scored the second most goals in the division. They haven’t changed, we just need to back them and believe in them and eventually they’ll start hitting form, catching fire and from then on if we can keep that defensive piece going, then we’re going to be a good team.”
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