In anticipation of tonight’s play-off final against Barnsley, Ian Evatt has cautioned Wanderers that they need to maintain composure.
More than 22,000 tickets have already been purchased as Bolton prepares to play Oxford United or Peterborough United at Wembley.
The Wanderers manager, who lost the first leg 3-1 at Oakwell, anticipates that his opponents will exert every effort to try and get back into the match.
And that includes the so-called dark arts, which made an appearance during last weekend’s second half of the match and could very well be used again tonight.
He told The Bolton News, “We have to be more disciplined. We have discussed it.” “We need to be careful not to give them any kind of advantage, especially one that they caused themselves.
“I have faith in the players’ judgement to make the right decisions. There were one or two minor issues on Friday, and we need to be careful to maintain a respectful distance from them.
Eoin Toal received a yellow card for his involvement in an incident involving Sam Cosgrove of Barnsley, a player with whom he has some previous experience.
After scoring his fourth goal of the season at Oakwell after coming off the bench, the large striker may now start in place of leading scorer Devante Cole.
With a careless challenge that went unpunished on the day, Cosgrove hurt Toal in last season’s Papa Johns Trophy final, sidelining the defender for weeks.
If Martin Devaney starts the former Wigan Athletic player in the starting lineup, Evatt hopes his players can control their emotions.
Although he presents a different challenge than Devante would, he is undoubtedly a physical target man, and I believe they have dangerous players all over the pitch. All of them are respected,” he remarked.
“The past is no longer relevant. We’ve forgotten about that now. We have to stop talking about what happened to Eoin and what transpired in the cup final. Everybody needs to restart.
Did we enjoy it? Not at all. However, we must look after ourselves, maintain our composure, and field 11 players.
Wanderers overcame Barnsley with just 41% of the ball, their lowest percentage of the year, following a very purposeful strategy shift for the first leg.
Evatt gave the following explanation: “We felt like in that game we could be a little more pragmatic than we usually are, especially early on. We have had the opportunity to learn from the games there, and some of the big games this season.” We were unable to outgun the opposition.
“We did a great job handling that opening spell. It fulfilled all of my expectations. I didn’t think it would be safe for us to link as many passes as we usually do.
We had discussed settling in before beginning to play some football at the 20-minute mark. You witnessed that with the first goal, and even though it’s a challenging task, I was happy the players were able to flip that switch.
“The players carried out the strategy flawlessly. Would I like to watch more football? Greater command over possession? Indeed. However, I believe Friday demonstrated that we can work both ways.
