Bolton Wanderers: Ian Evatt must seize Stockport County, Blackpool promotion opportunity | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers have been on a good run of form after a very poor start to the season as they eye victories against Stockport County and Blackpool.

In mid-September, following a 4-0 loss to Huddersfield Town at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, the pressure had grown to a point where Ian Evatt was discussing his own future and seemingly readying himself to depart to protect his legacy with the club.

Fast forward a month and a half, Bolton have managed to squeeze themselves into the top six and the play-off places with six victories and a draw in their last eight League One outings.

Performances took their time to improve but the last few, most notably games against Peterborough United and Stevenage, have been much more like the side that Bolton supporters saw in the first half of the 2023/24 campaign.

Now, as we head into a month of November set to be dominated by international break postponements and FA Cup rounds, Bolton do have two big derby days to focus on and properly propel themselves towards League One promotion at last.

The slow and steady recovery of Evatt and Bolton

Last season, Bolton Wanderers collapsed from an outstanding position in February where they looked like potential favourites for the League One title to finishing third and missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the campaign.

That was then followed up by a 2-0 defeat to Oxford United in the League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium in mid-May and the Trotters had to prepare for a fourth successive year in the third-tier.

A difficult summer transfer window followed and things didn’t get any better at the start of this season with that aforementioned 4-0 hammering at the hands of Huddersfield their third successive defeat in the league, meaning they started their campaign by collecting just four points from their opening five matches.

However, taking advantage of teams with off-field issues such as Reading and Crawley Town propelled them along before a genuinely good performance to defeat Northampton Town by four goals to two at Sixfields.

They fought back from 2-0 down at home to Shrewsbury Town to share a still underwhelming point with struggling Salop before a narrow 2-1 win over Burton Albion and a last-gasp rebound from a missed penalty win against Peterborough United sandwiched a lacklustre and unambitious 2-0 loss in Birmingham.

Their performance on Tuesday against Stevenage, though, whilst far from perfect, was a continuation of an improvement in their style and a clear rebuilding of the confidence of individuals.

They now head into the eleventh month of the year looking like they could put behind them a genuinely awful calendar year on the pitch by kicking on with a couple of massive opportunities to rebuild the relationship between supporters and players.

Stockport and Blackpool are the markers

A few seasons ago, due to a hotly contested FA Cup first round tie between then-National League Stockport County and newly-promoted to League One Bolton Wanderers, something of a rivalry developed between the two as the Hatters sprang a surprise with an extra-time defeat of Bolton at Edgeley Park in the replay after Bolton had raced into a 2-0 lead.

That, coupled with some angst between the two sets of supporters and Antoni Sarcevic’s controversial and sudden departure as Bolton captain to join then-non-league Stockport, has created some bitterness between the two sides.

Since then, the clubs have been divisions apart again but for the first time since the 2000/01 campaign, there is an added incentive for Stockport to get one over on their rivals from north of Greater Manchester after their bright start to the League One campaign following promotion from League Two last season.

Blackpool started the season woefully but had majorly improved under the management of Steve Bruce before a recent dip of collecting one point from their last three League One games.

It is the former playing club of Evatt, where he gained promotion to the Premier League under Ian Holloway, but Blackpool and Bolton share a historic rivalry.

There is a fair bit of animosity between the two clubs but a result for or against can either be the catalyst for new-found form or the cause of a downward spiral.

The expected postponement of their clash with Rotherham United in mid-November due to international call-ups means that Bolton will likely face back-to-back League One derbies, which represents an opportunity for them to spring back up the table and boost their momentum.

Victories or at least positive performances and results with a minimum of four points from the two games would allow supporters to believe in their side once again and perhaps mend the disconnect that has formed in recent months around the club.

There was, though, a moment last season where Bolton played at Blackpool and then at Wigan in two key derby games as the spring arrived and back-to-back losses saw them on their way to collapsing out of the top two.

This time around, it could well be that two derby days can be the catalyst for Ian Evatt and Bolton Wanderers to rebuild themselves back towards the top two and automatic promotion to the Championship.