Bolton Wanderers On Victory: I Asked My Men To “Ultimately Dip” With Burton Albion Because I Know What They…

SCHUMACHER | A GOOD DAY’S WORK

Steven Schumacher was able to celebrate a double first as Wanderers chalked up the win that lifted them into the play-off places, writes Pete Oliver.

Schumacher guided the Whites to a first ever win at Burton at the sixth attempt and also enjoyed a first victory of his own as a manager at the Pirelli Stadium.

Schumacher’s men ultimately had to dig deep to safeguard the three points from a 2-1 success that took them up to sixth place in the League One table with 11 games to go.

But Josh Sheehan’s 60th-minute cracker was ultimately enough to make it five wins and a draw from the last six games under the head coach as Wanderers also got within two points of fourth-placed Stockport County.

“It was a huge game and there was a time right at the very end there where I thought it’s déjà vu, here we go again with the ball going in our box,” admitted Schumacher, who had previously been on the end of a last-minute leveller here when Plymouth boss.

“But it was a great win. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Burton have been in brilliant form lately and found themselves in with a chance of getting out of the trouble that they were in before Gary (Bowyer) came into this club.

“So, credit to the players again. They played some brilliant football, especially in the first half, got into some good areas and just didn’t get the second goal that we probably deserved in the first half. Then we had to show character once they equalised to get ourselves back in front. So, a good day.”

Wanderers were pegged back by Ryan Sweeney’s controversial equaliser eight minutes into the second half after Aaron Morley had fired the Whites ahead with a fine strike of his own.

Sheehan’s clincher – hit first time from 30 yards – was then a fitting winner as Wanderers backed up their mid-week victory over Birmingham City to sustain their promotion push ahead of a trip to Bristol Rovers next Tuesday night.  

“We managed to see it out and got the three points that we came here for,” added Schumacher, unbeaten since his first game in charge. “It was a big game today to respond from Tuesday’s game.

“I know everyone spoke to me about getting the players up for it again but the players clearly showed that they were up for it and they deserve full credit for that.

“The performances have been good, the results have been good and everybody else around us has been winning. But it’s one of them, you’ll end up where you need to be at the end of the season if you do your business.

“They’re doing that at the moment and we need to try and do that again on Tuesday. We will go there in good form, again with a strong squad because we left a couple of people out today.

“We had an injury to George Johnston, which we think he should be okay probably for Tuesday, and we left a couple of good players back at home. There are also a couple of players coming back from injury, so the squad’s getting stronger and we’re going to need everybody in this one.”

Watch the head coach’s full post-match interview on Wanderers TV