Sheffield Wednesday: “It could get to them..” Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt attempts to pile pressure on Owls and Sunderland

Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt, a former Chesterfield captain, suggested the former Premier League club are not under the same level of pressure to achieve promotion as some of the other sides in the playoff push.

Wednesday have games in hand on the bulk of their rivals but tumbled to eighth in the third tier table after midweek wins for MK Dons, Plymouth Argyle and Sunderland. Portsmouth and Ipswich Town also won to keep the pressure on those above them.

In what has been interpreted as a thinly-veiled barb at the fellow ‘big clubs’ in the jostle for position, including Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland, Evatt suggested the pressure is on those with bigger budgets than the Trotters to get the job done.

Evatt was speaking in the hours ahead of Bolton’s 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Morecambe that saw them leapfrogged by Portsmouth and drop to 11th in the table.

“I think that some of those clubs and their expenditure and the pressure of being in this league for a few years now could get to them,” Evatt said.

“People have to remember that we haven’t spend the kind of money that others have, and also we’re a newly promoted team. I would say the pressure if off us.

“The expectancy comes from within,” he continued. “We are our own biggest critics and our fans want us more than anything to be promoted. And I want that of course, but I do just feel like there is more pressure on others.

“If we can keep flying under the radar and people keep writing us off, that’s great. We will just go about our business and best as we can and see where it takes us, see what happens at the end.”

Bolton are scheduled to welcome Wednesday to the University of Bolton Stadium on April 9, one of seven matches the Owls will play in the final month of the regular season.