IAN Evatt hailed Nathan Baxter as the “best goalkeeper in the league” as he helped Wanderers hold on to three points on the opening day of the season at Leyton Orient.
The former Chelsea stopper made a string of eye-catching saves to keep the home side at bay, and make sure that Victor Adeboyejo’s 75th minute strike proved decisive.
Evatt commended his players’ fighting spirit as they claimed their first league victory against the O’s since 1990. And the Bolton boss was especially pleased with the impact of his substitutes – including Adeboyejo and new signings John McAtee, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Klaidi Lolos and Jay Matete.
“There were parts we haven’t shown in the past, that resilience, the ability to fight and find a way to win away from home, to scrap and do the ugly bits well,” he said after the final whistle.
“Credit to Leyton Orient, they were really aggressive with their press, there wasn’t much space to play through the lines. We needed to put the ball in behind with quality and then have the players making the right runs to enable the ball to stick. There were times we did that well, and times we didn’t.
“The plan, because of the squad we have got now and the players we have brought in, it enables us to energise the game. For the last half-hour the lads really did that for us, changed it, really. We got the goal and managed to scramble and fight at the end when they went ultra-direct, and Nathan made one incredible save – and that’s why he’s the best keeper in the league.
“It was a positive start.”
McAtee, Osei-Tutu and Matete were plunged in with the game at 1-1, Charlie Kelman having cancelled out Dion Charles’s early strike and Orient looking more likely to score the second goal.
Evatt hopes a deeper squad will help him avoid some of the injury issues his players suffered in the second half of last season.
“Three of those lads have only had one training session,” he said of the new arrivals.
“They are going to improve and get better. But the pleasing thing for me was that we can now impact a game from the bench, put speed into it, we can energise it. This is a good group of players – a big group – and they have to understand that it’s not about individuals, or even an 11, it is a squad game now.
“It frustrates people who want to play every week but it’s just not possible. Last season we played 60-odd games and we had players playing injured at the end. It was really physically challenging. Hopefully this season we can have a bit of Lady Luck with the injuries.
“I think for the opening game of the season and how difficult this place has been for us in the past, it was a really positive start.”
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