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Manchester Evening News
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John McDougall

'Isn't any luck in it' - Ian Evatt pinpoints key aspects of Bolton substitute goals in Burton win

Ian Evatt believes there is no luck involved in Bolton Wanderers' substitutions which have led to goals in their recent games but highlighted the importance of their two strikes versus Burton Albion as finding a way to win.

Dapo Afolayan and Aaron Morley both saw efforts go off target in the early stages as Wanderers started brightly. But the Whites were unable to carve out many clear cut opportunities in a frustrating first half they had much of the ball for against a Burton side which struggled to create much.

After the break, despite Wanderers continuing to dominate but creating few opportunities to speak of, the visitors took the lead. Sam Hughes headed home off the far post from Terry Taylor's corner.

READ MORE: Burton boss Dino Maamria's choice words after Bolton loss on Wanderers celebrations & officials

Amadou Bakayoko struck as full-time approached to level for the hosts past Ben Garratt. Kieran Lee hit the post in stoppage time and Conor Bradley had an effort saved, but Bodvarsson fired home through a crowded penalty area after the Brewers failed to clear a corner and hand Wanderers a huge three points which sees the Whites now fifth in the table.

Wanderers boss Evatt made successful substitutions which led to victories from comebacks for the second game in a row. The same happened over the weekend in the 3-2 victory against Accrington Stanley.

Evatt believes there is no luck to the changes made in games owing to the depth and quality of squad he possesses. He pointed out the type of goals Wanderers scored as different from what they usually do as he felt the supporters were repaid for the faith they showed in the players with a finish all could feel was coming.

He said: "There isn’t any luck in it, we’ve got good players and we’re able to change games, we’re able to impact games and those two have come on tonight and impacted it.

“For all being an attractive football team and we want to play from back to front, I think it’s really important we recognise we scored from a long kick from Traff and a second phase set play tonight. Against those types of teams with that much disruptions, sometimes it might be that way for us, but we found a way to win and good teams do that.

“It’s huge because we’ve took a bit of criticism and unbelievably I think we’re fifth in the league, but we feel like we’ve been criticised, sometimes justly, sometimes unjustly, and we’ve showed a massive amount of togetherness this last couple of games. To win games from the positions that we were in both of those games is really good and it means the team are very much together.

“To be honest, I’ve got to say that the crowd were really patient. They stuck with us, they could see what the game plan was, they were getting frustrated with that but not with us, and when you stay together, you create real positivity and energy and I thought they did that with the last 20 minutes with the players and the players repaid them with two very important goals.

“To be honest, we could all feel it coming and when you get that momentum swing and the energy and the belief that the players have got, it’s fantastic. It would have been easy for the players to sulk and back out after Kieran’s chance, after Conor’s chance, but they didn’t.

“They kept focused and believing and they kept on pushing forwards. They got the ball out of the net after the first one, reset it, went again, asked more questions and eventually they blew the house down which was great.”

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