Emile Heskey believes that his Bolton teammates have the character to pull off another escape act after Wanderers slipped further into the relegation mire last night.
Former White Paul Robinson scored the only goal of the game as Birmingham City became the first SkyBet Championship side to win at the Macron Stadium this season.
And with Wanderers in an almost identical situation to this time 12 months ago, the veteran striker spoke of his confidence that the side can turn around their record of one win in 12 games this term.
“We went out there with all the intention of playing some really good football, and it wasn’t to be today,” he said.
“We’re in this together; we’ve got to rally together and pull ourselves through it.
“It’s a confident bunch of lads, as it shows with some of our play out there, but we’ve probably got to do it a bit more consistently.
“We got ourselves out of it last year in a pretty similar situation, and fingers crossed we can do it again.”
After a first-half performance in which Bolton rarely threatened, familiar failings came back to haunt them in the second half, as Gary Madine and Darren Pratley somehow contrived to miss gilt-edged chances.
With each defeat denting confidence a little further, 37-year-old Heskey believes that the side needs to remain calm to improve upon a risible record of nine goals in 12 games, starting with the visit of fellow strugglers Leeds this weekend.
“I guess there is an anxiety when you’re not winning games,” he admitted.
“You’re probably not getting the rub of the green, so there is going to be a little bit of anxiety and people snatching at stuff, but we’ve got to stay composed, we’ve got to stay confident that we can get out of this situation.
“Leeds is a massive game, every game from now on in is big for us, we’ve got to try and pick up as many points as possible.”
Image courtesy of BWFC via YouTube, with thanks.
