Bolton Wanderers defender George Johnston eyes a home cure

Ian Evatt’s side welcome Burton Albion to the Toughsheet Stadium on Saturday looking to push back into the top half of the table in League One.

Home results this season have been anything but consistent. And in seven games in front of their own supporters this season in all competitions the Whites have won just once inside 90 minutes.

The last two games – a frustrating 2-2 draw against Shrewsbury Town and a dire display against Aston Villa’s Under-21s that finished in a penalty shootout defeat have highlighted the issues Bolton have had putting opposition teams away.

Johnston is adamant, however, that the club can still re-establish the sort of home form that kept them challenging for automatic promotion throughout last season.

“Especially at home, that is what we have got to do – be on the front foot, energetic. When we do have the ball, be composed but attack with pace to make things happen and make the crowd get on the edge of their seats,” he said.

“That is what it has got to be like at home. No-one should come to our place and play as they want. They have got to come into our ring and play how we want to play.

“We have got to be relentless - attack after attack - as well as shutting the door at the back, which is something we have not done as much as we would have liked this season. But that is also work in progress and we will get there.

“Every team has a blip and we are just hoping ours was at the beginning of the season. There is plenty more football to play and we are confident we can go on a good run and compete at the top end of the table.”

Johnston missed the whole of last season because of a knee injury but has still racked up more than a century of appearances for the club, with only Dion Charles, George Thomason, Gethin Jones and Ricardo Santos boasting more under the current boss.

As such, he feels a different relationship with the disappointment of the play-off final in May, which many feel was a contributing factor to Bolton’s slow start.

“I was probably back in full training at that point but I kind of knew I was never going to play until the start of this season,” he said of his recovery from knee surgery. “As bitter as the end was, I just wanted the season to be over. I wish, obviously, that had been with a promotion but my full focus was on getting ready for pre-season.

“I am into my fourth season now. Lower down the leagues, you do not get too many players who stay more than two or three years at each club before moving on, so I am proud to wear the shirt every week and happy I am here.

“Every transfer window you are going to be bringing players in to add competition, but I think you have got to believe in yourself. For me, I have a lot of self-confidence which I use in the right way. I am not arrogant with it but I back my own ability more than anything.”

Johnston accepts that the serious nature of the cruciate ligament injury he picked up last summer was such that his body will never be the same again – but after focussing hard on the rehabilitation process he feels confident it will not hold him back.

“I think you just have to throw yourself into it,” he told the club. “The way my body feels now is not 100 per cent and it never will be. But I know if I let that affect my mind it will be holding me back, so I just throw myself into it.

“I know I have rehabbed myself well alongside the physios, so I am in a good place at the moment. I am more than confident I have made sure that I put my body in the best possible position to be available to start each game.

“It means everything to be playing again. It was tough watching the lads from the side so I am just grateful every time I get the opportunity to step back onto that pitch. I just try to give everything I have got.

“I think the way I have trained and played since coming back in, even if I am not performing to the best level, I am still giving 110 per cent and I think whenever you do that, it puts you in good stead.”