Vice-captain Matt Mills says Bolton Wanderers no longer hold any fear of Championship opposition after they comfortably saw off local rivals Wigan 3-1 on Friday night.
Goals from Max Clayton, Craig Davies and Lee Chung-Yong at the Macron Stadium earned Neil Lennon’s side a fourth win in six games since taking over from Dougie Freedman.
Centre-back Mills won a penalty for Wanderers’ third, and the former Manchester City man believes Bolton’s recent form has shown that they mean business.
“We’re delighted, it was a massive game for us and it felt like an emphatic win,” he said. “We’re growing in confidence and it was a good test for us.
“We’ve worked so hard in recent weeks to get wins to get us in a position to get out of the bottom three and that was the case tonight.
“There are some very good teams in this league, but we’re in the mind-set now when we don’t fear playing anybody.
“The manager has put a big emphasis on it not being about what anyone else is doing, but it being about what we’re doing.
“It’s definitely a changing room that believes we can win any game we go into now. We’ve scored six goals in two games at home now and that breeds real confidence.
“Hopefully it sends out a message to the rest of the league that we really mean business.”
20-year-old striker Clayton opened the scoring with his first goal for Wanderers since moving from Crewe, and he credited the fans for the part they played in the victory.
“The manager fills us with confidence going into each game, and we really feel like we can attack teams and beat them heavily,” he explained.
“As you can see out there, we are all full of belief and it was a great team performance. The fans played a massive part in the game – they really pulled us through.
“It’s been a difficult period for the club, but hopefully we’re out of that now and we can make this place a fortress.”
Meanwhile, Lennon himself believes his side have set a benchmark in terms of their standard of performance and is looking to the future with optimism.
“The way we’re playing now is obviously very pleasing from my point of view. To pick up consecutive wins is great – it just shows you what a bit of momentum can do.
“We now find ourselves out of the bottom and looking up the league table. I feel like we’ve put a bit of a marker down in the last week.
“We’ve set a benchmark and people are now starting to talk about Bolton for the first time in a while.
“We’re out of the bottom three – that’s the first part of the job done. We now have to push on.”
With the Championship enjoying a week off thanks to next week’s international break, Wanderers are next in action at bottom-of-the-table Blackpool on Saturday November 22.
Main image courtesy of Bolton Wanderers FC via YouTube, with thanks.
