IAN Evatt felt his Wanderers side was always in control as they romped to a 2-0 win at MK Dons.
After registering a first win at Stadium:MK with goals from Dion Charles and Gethin Jones, the Bolton boss felt the margin of victory should have been even greater.
“I am pleased. It is great to get the monkey off our back and win away from home, and winning here is always a difficult thing to do,” he said.
“But I thought from minute one we showed good energy and intensity, there wasn’t really any rustiness from the 10-day break. We grabbed control early on.
“The worry for me was that we have conceded moments and goals against the run of play so I felt the penalty gave us a little bit more confidence and belief.
“If I am being ultra-critical in the second half we should have scored more. But as away performances go, it was pretty solid.”
Wanderers also kept their fourth clean sheet of the season, restricting MK to only a few half-chances on the evening and leaving James Trafford without a significant save to make.
“Credit to them (the defence) that we kept focus and concentration,” Evatt said. “I think we have played pretty well all season, to be honest, even in defeats against Plymouth or Sheffield Wednesday. We have just suffered in bad moments, little lapses in concentration, as a team and not just the bad lads.
“I thought we were on it tonight. We respected them and they can be a dangerous team but our high press was fantastic and the amount of regains we got was great. We need to be more clinical, though.”
Jack Iredale’s free kick found Jones for the second goal, on a night where Bolton’s set pieces had not always found the mark.
“It was about time because the delivery first half was awful,” smiled the manager, whose side entertain Peterborough United on Saturday.
“It was a brilliant ball in and a great header from Gethin.
“I was pleased to score from a set play and if I am being ultra-critical we should have scored more but I am pleased. It is only three points and we have to focus on Saturday.
“This was a big week and defines whether we have had a good start or a decent one and this is the first step towards it being a good start.
“We will go into Saturday re-energised and full of confidence ready to go again.”
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