Owen Coyle admits a half-time rollicking inspired his Bolton side to their 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Bolton boss ready for Premier League run-in
Owen Coyle admits a half-time rollicking inspired his Bolton side to their 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Two goals in a minute turned the game on its head as Bolton picked up three priceless points in their battle against relegation and dragged Villa right into the dogfight to stay up.
Martin Petrov's penalty and David Ngog's effort cancelled out Stephen Warnock's opener to move Bolton within a point of safety.
Coyle was full of praise for his side's character in coming from behind to win, but admitted he was not happy with the first half showing from his players.
Character
"I think we showed again the character we have within the squad and I have got to say I gave them an almighty blast at half-time because I wasn't pleased with the first showing," he said.
"We still looked a danger on the counter attack, but we allowed Villa far too much possession in the middle third with the second ball not getting on it quickly enough.
"I felt aggrieved to go behind because I didn't think up to that point Aston Villa threatened in the second half, but it was wonderful play from N'Zogbia on the wing and a great cutback.
"But the character my lads showed again, the quality, the build up to the penalty - Mark Davies burst into box and it was a stone-wall penalty. It was an exquisite finish from Martin Petrov and then the build up to second goal, great passing move, Chris Eagles great feet and a fantastic finish.
"With our second half showing the win was very merited, absolutely no doubt about it.
"We have been in good form, I think that's 13 points from 21 now and everybody else around about us was winning when we were idle and this was one of our games in hand and we still have another one. That's what we have got to do, give performances like this to make sure we remain in the Premier League."
Bouncing back
Coyle was full of praise for his players and he admits they face four cup finals in their bid to stay up
"We had to do it the hard way but again all credit to the lads - they stood up to be counted away from home, it was a hostile atmosphere when Villa scored they had their tails up and probably felt they would go on to win game
"My lads keep bouncing back, people keep writing them off. Carry on doing it because I know what we have got in there
"We have been decimated by injuries as well as Aston Villa tonight, but we carried on. We were very consistent, very balanced and that's what we will do for the remainder.
"We have four games, every one a huge game -a cup final - and we have to approach it in the manner we did tonight in the second half."
