Bolton Wanderers’ boss Dougie Freedman has urged his side to secure one more win next week after a draw against Cardiff City kept the Trotters’ play-off hopes alive.
The Whites led early through Chris Eagles’ calmly dispatched first half goal, before Craig Noone’s second half free-kick grabbed a point for the newly-crowned Championship champions.
Bolton now head into their final fixture knowing their play-off fate is in their own hands – something which Freedman said he would have gladly taken when he first took over last year.
“What we have achieved so far is good and we have to make sure we finish a very good three months next weekend,” he said.
“We are looking forward to next weekend’s game, we won’t change how we approach the game, and we are going to be looking forward to winning the game.
“We have won our last eight games at home which is a fantastic record and we want to finish with a win.
“If anybody had said to me when I first got the job that our fate was in our own hands and we had to win our last game to get into the play-offs, we would have taken it.”
Freedman made just one change to the side that beat Middlesbrough, with Josh Vela coming in to replace striker Craig Davies.
It was the Bluebirds that started far the better side though as Jordan Mutch and Kim Bo-Kyung both tested Adam Bogdan within the first 15 minutes.
However the visitors took the lead on 18 minutes when Eagles’ found Sam Ricketts on the right flank and he produced a neat cut-back for the number seven to slide past David Marshall.
Cardiff levelled just after the hour mark as substitute Noone was felled outside the area and his sublimely-curled free-kick found the far corner for his seventh goal of the season.
Bolton nearly grabbed a late winner as Darren Pratley almost latched on to Ben Turner’s weak back pass, however Marshall was quick to react and clear the danger.
The home side pressed late-on for a winner however the Trotter’s held on to take a point back to the Reebok, and Freedman admitted a draw was a fair result for both sides.
“We have also had to rely on a couple of fantastic saves from Adam Bogdan so on reflection a draw is a fair result,” he explained.
“We prepared correctly, we knew before the game Cardiff possessed a lot of different qualities and were capable of putting in crosses from the wide areas.
“It was a wonderful goal by Chris Eagles. We analysed that before the game, we looked to work in the wider areas and cut the ball back and that is what happened for the goal.”
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