Bolton Wanderers midfielder Josh Sheehan has said that if they keep playing ‘their way,’ they can deal with everything in League One.
After a tough last two weeks without a win in all competitions, Bolton bounced back with a 2-1 win over Derby County, courtesy of a Dion Charles penalty and an own goal from Derby midfielder Tyrese Fornah.
“It was the perfect end to the week,” Sheehan told The Bolton News. “The results we’d had before were hurtful for us, for the fans, so coming into this against a big rival, a big crowd, people probably questioned us and wondered whether we were up for it. But from minute one, when we play like that, I don’t think many teams in this league can match us.”
Josh Sheehan on Derby win
The 4-0 defeat at home to Wigan a fortnight ago raised plenty of questions as to whether Bolton can deal with the physicality of the league despite their possession based style of play, but Sheehan thinks this victory against Derby shows they can.
“When a defeat comes like that, there will always be loads of questions – whether we can handle the occasion, whether we are strong enough, or physical enough,” Sheehan said. “But I think we showed against Derby that being a physical team doesn’t matter if they can’t get close to us, the way we play. If we played their way then we probably will lose a lot of the battles. If we play our way then I am confident we will win more than we lose.
“You look back at the Wigan result and we know the performance wasn’t good enough. You want to win every game, so do the fans, but sometimes it is the manner you lose them. We can’t let that happen again.
“But I think we have showed there that we can battle with the biggest and the best, and as long as we do it our way then I don’t think we will have any problems.”