Ian Evatt believes his players came through Tuesday night’s test against in-form Scunthorpe United with ‘flying colours’ after goals in each half by Eoin Doyle and Antoni Sarcevic made it four wins on the spin for his Bolton Wanderers side.
After two tough away victories against Mansfield Town and Southend United, Wanderers hosted a Scunthorpe team searching for a fifth consecutive victory.
But Doyle’s 12th strike of the campaign followed by a crucial finish from Sarcevic just five minutes after coming on for Dapo Afolayan, saw Evatt’s troops pick up the three points which sent them to ninth in Sky Bet League Two.
He said: “We’re really pleased to play like that after two long journeys, two difficult pitches. It was an excellent result.
“Scunthorpe were in great form, they were well-organised and made it difficult for us, but I thought we controlled the game.
“I think we’re controlling games with possession a lot better, especially in the first half. I don’t know what it was in the end, I’d imagine something like 70 per cent, but the only slight negative is that when we have opposition like that we need to move the ball quicker with a faster tempo. There has to be more unselfish running to create space for others. There’s lots to work on, which is pleasing.
“For all our dominance it shows you what this league and football can throw at you because the defenders were outstanding but made one mistake with one long ball and but for Alex Baptiste’s excellent defending it could have easily been 1-1 and they would have come out of nowhere.
“We have to be more dominant in our good spells and score more to take the pressure off the back four.
“But overall I am really pleased because that was always going to be a tough game but we came through it with flying colours.”
