Ian Evatt believes Wanderers aren’t far away from where they want to be ahead of Saturday’s trip to Fleetwood.

The Whites are currently seventh in the League One table – only behind fifth-place Portsmouth on goal difference.

And there were encouraging signs from their goalless draw at Cambridge last weekend despite finishing the game with 10 men after Kyle Dempsey was sent off.

“I think a lot of our game is right, I believe as much as 80 per cent is where we want it to be, but everyone is striving for that last 15 to 20 per cent,” said the Bolton boss.

“For instance, if you look at Plymouth, they’re a great example at the moment because if you look at their xG, they’re massively outperforming what they’re actually creating and what they’re actually conceding at the moment, and that’s not sustainable either. 

“We just have to keep doing the things that we’re doing and be more consistent with it, make sure that we believe in ourselves more and maybe play the numbers game a little bit better and get our shots off, and hopefully those goals will start to go in.” 

Wanderers have struggled to find the net at times this season, scoring 19 times in 17 league matches since the start of the campaign.

When asked how important it is for the strikers to block out the noise, Evatt explained: “It’s easier said than done because in the crazy new world of social media everyone is making it a point, everyone is talking about it, we’re talking about it.

“So it’s easier said than done to just go, ‘I’m going to relax and I’m just going to do me’. It’s not that easy.

“I’ve just tried to strip it back for them and say let’s just play the numbers game. If you make the wrong decision, it is what it is.

“But for now let’s just get back to shooting on site, putting balls in good areas, making sure we’re filling those good areas and see what happens with that.” 

He added: “I do think at the moment looking at all the historical data, in terms of chance conversion, it’s a bit of an anomaly. But we are where we are and we’ll keep working hard with them.” 

Gethin Jones and Aaron Morley both went close for the Whites at Cambridge, with James Trafford making a couple of big stops at the other end.

“We’d have lost that game in the past, there’s no denying it,” said Evatt. “In terms of what we ask the players to do and execute, on Saturday a lot of it was correct and right.

“We can be loads better, we know that, but it was a step in the right direction. I thought we looked more aggressive, more energetic, more intense, more determined and we did the basics better.

“With the ball, we know we can be a bit better than what we were, but we still dominated. We passed more progressively, more pragmatically at times, but we can do that with the players we’ve got. 

“We were that close to a 1-0 away victory at a place where we haven’t had a great record. In grounds like that we haven’t had a great record and almost scored with a set play, so we weren’t too far away.”