Striker calls for side to continue improvement ahead upcoming home games
Emile Heskey has called for he and his Bolton Wanderers team-mates to build on their resolute showing at Middlesbrough ahead of upcoming back to back home games.
The Trotters turned in a gutsy performance against promotion contenders Middlesbrough and were only edged out by a solitary Albert Adomah goal.
Having recently been sidelined with a hamstring injury, Heskey completed the full 90 minutes at the Riverside.
And speaking after the game the striker called for Wanderers to target maximum points ahead of a Macron double header against Brighton and Reading.
“We dug in and rolled our sleeves up,” Heskey said after the game. “We pushed Middlesbrough all the way, but in the end we’ve come away empty handed.
“Some people will say it doesn’t count for anything, and it doesn’t in terms of points it doesn’t, but we needed that kind of performance.
“In the first half we probably showed Middlesbrough a bit too much respect, but once we got in and amongst them in the second half we did a lot better.
“We had to be solid defensively and we certainly showed that. It was still a little bit of an easy goal for them to score, but on the whole we did okay.
“We can take a lot from the game. We showed a lot of fight and a lot of grit, and we’re going to need that going into these two home games.
“We’ve got to stick at it and work hard, because we’re not quite getting the results of late.
“These home games are massive for us. We’ve done well on our own patch recently and we need to show what we’re capable of doing.
“Defensively against Middlesbrough we were sound - we now have to try and push on some in front of our own fans.”