WANDERERS walked away empty-handed from Birmingham City on Tuesday night – but Luke Southwood insists they showed they “can compete” with the runaway league leaders.

His side trailing 1-0 at half time, the Northern Ireland international made a couple of important saves early in the second half to keep Bolton in touch.

Although the Whites were on the back foot for much of the evening at St Andrew’s, a big chance missed by John McAtee 10 minutes before the end represented a great ‘what if’ moment.

Ian Evatt has come in for some criticism for his team selection and tactics on the night, some feeling they were overly submissive, but Southwood feels the game was closer than that.

“It was obviously tough first half and they were on top, we didn’t play the way we know we can but in some ways we showed resilience, stuck it out and got to half time,” he said.

“Second half I thought was much better, we grew into the game and then had chances towards the end to equalise, which would potentially have made it a really good night for us. But we fell the wrong side of those big moments.”

With Nathan Baxter out injured, Southwood has started the last three league games, adding to three prior appearances in the cup competitions.

The summer signing feels he is starting to settle as a result – and he is determined to help Wanderers through an inconsistent spell at the start of the season.

“I feel like I am growing into it, game by game,” he said. “As a goalie it’s probably a rare position because it takes some time to build into where you feel you are 100 per cent and ready.

“I feel like my confidence is growing with every game, so I want to keep helping the team and get back on a winning run like we were just on.

“It is difficult at the minute because we’d won four out of five and drew the other one, but we are also fully aware that we are not playing as we can in this moment in time.

“You have to keep positive because we are doing well and picking up points but on the flip side you are always asking more and training hard to improve those performances.”

Though injuries have been cited as an issue for Ian Evatt as he turns his attention to this weekend’s game against Peterborough United, Southwood remains confident there is enough depth in the squad to get a result against one of last season’s promotion challengers.

He said: “It isn’t easy – we lost Thommo, Nathan and different players have gone at different times, but we feel we have got a really good squad here. All the boys, the manager and the staff would all say that and it is one of our strengths.

“If we do get injuries we should be good enough to step up.”

With the win on Tuesday night Birmingham City went four points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand on their nearest rivals, Wrexham.

Chris Davies’s side spent heavily in the summer and their second goalscorer on the night, Jay Stansfield, became the most expensive third-tier player in history when he made the £11million move from Fulham.

Nevertheless, Southwood says the Bolton dressing room felt like an opportunity was missed to prolong their own unbeaten run.

He said: “There are a lot of disappointed people in there because we had that chance at the end and the way the game went, they might have deserved the win, but obviously we stuck in and did a lot of good things. We have to take positives from it, but we are always disappointed when we lose.

“I think second half it was an even-ish game and it shows that when we are on it, we can compete with teams that are probably better than this level.”