Substitutes made the difference for Bolton at Crewe, admits Ian Evatt

Posted Sunday, March 20, 2022 by PA

Ian Evatt paid tribute to his bench after Bolton snatched a late 1-0 victory at Crewe.

Substitute Amadou Bakayoko polished off a rebound in the last minute after a Kieran Sadlier free-kick struck the post to end bottom club Crewe’s second-half resistance.

The decisive set play was won by another of the Wanderers’ late replacements, Elias Kachunga, as the visitors kept their outside play-off hopes alive.

Earlier, home goalkeeper Dave Richards excelled by keeping out a string of visiting efforts but was finally beaten at the death.

“We’ve got players who can come on and change things off the bench. Sometimes the bench can make the difference in games and it did today,” said Evatt.

“What was pleasing was that the players kept going. I don’t think Crewe caused us any problems in the second half and we managed to get the goal at the end.

“This squad is capable of going on a winning run, so this is the first of eight cup finals for us. Teams above us can drop points, that’s the nature of the competition, and things do look better for us than they did last weekend.

“I felt the goal was going to come as we had shot after shot and their keeper made some good saves. We dug in and got the result we needed.”

For Crewe, it was a seventh consecutive loss at home as their dreadful campaign continues.

Yet thanks to their keeper they looked like they might register their first point in front of their own fans since January 15.

Richards turned a 25-yard free kick from Declan John around the post before the break and then thwarted Oladapo Afolayan with an agile stop to keep out a a powerful far-post header.

Dion Charles struck the foot of the post as the Crewe goal led a charmed life and Richards again came to the home side’s rescue by throwing himself in the path of a blockbuster from Bolton skipper Ricardo Santos.

The bottom club were offered a late chance to grab a rare win when a mistake by Santos allowed Bassala Sambou in on goal. But Crewe’s transfer window signing from Fortuna Sittard conjured a miserable finish, dropping a tame volley straight at keeper James Trafford.

Crewe manager David Artell complained that matchwinner Bakayoko was offside when he drove home.

“We shot ourselves in the foot and it was hard to take as we’d had a one-v-one at the other end before that,” said Artell.

“The game was a massive missed opportunity. It was a low-quality game on what is a poor pitch, but it’s the same for both teams. However, we’re asking our players to play in a way which doesn’t help them.

“There wasn’t enough quality in the final third and that pitch doesn’t help.

“Their lad was offside from the free-kick and it hadn’t looked like they were going to score.

“We’ll keep plugging away with them. Every game they play they learn, but it’s a real steep learning curve at the moment.”