BUSY FEBRUARY TIRES TROTTERS
BOLTON manager Ian Evatt was bitterly disappointed by his side’s loss to Milton Keynes Dons at Stadium MK.
Mo Eisa and Scott Twine scored goals either side of half time as the Dons continued their impressive run of form, winning three in a row, while Bolton’s play-off chances took a blow as they sit seven points off the playoffs.
Evatt was frustrated with the result, but he did believe that playing eight games in a month had a big part to play in his side’s performance.
He said: “I am not happy. The first 20 minutes and a moment of madness have cost us.
“I thought we dominated the second half and then we pressed self-destruct. We are better than that.
“We were a little jaded. It’s been a long month and MK Dons are the worst team to play in the eighth game of an eight game month because they test you physically. I
don’t think we are in any way inferior to them. We just didn’t figure out what to do in the first 20 minutes and how to press the ball, once we did that there were no dangers really.
“We were in control for the last 20 minutes of the first half.
“The second half was all us and I thought MK had gone. The fans were getting excited and we just had to score.
“We just pressed the self-destruct button then and then it was game over. We are not happy right now.”
Eisa had a penalty shout turned away before Twine hit a post as MK Dons started
strongly. They got their reward, however, when Eisa converted a rebound after 17 minutes after Harry Darling’s shot was initially saved.
Jamie Cumming made a brilliant save to keep out Bakayoko’s close-range header in the 40th minute, meanwhile.
Ricardo Almeida
Santos headed over for Bolton after 63 minutes, before Twine wrapped the points up with a cool finish in the 76th minute after Kaine Kesler-Hayden latched on to a mis-placed pass by the Wanderers keeper.
Twine then failed to hit the target, before Troy Parrott had a shot saved in the closing minutes.
MK Dons manager Liam Manning was proud of his group of players for their performance, while he believes that the tight knit squad is the main reason his side sit third in the table.
He said: “The credit goes to the players. It’s been a tough week with the travelling and the level of opposition we have played.
“I’m just so proud of the group for the way they have applied themselves and for how together they are.
“We have spoken a lot about momentum and people forget how young we are at times.
“We have got a group who want to learn and want to get better.”