WITH two weeks to mull over his side’s current plight, Phil Parkinson remains adamant he can engineer Wanderers’ recovery once they get back in action.

Saturday’s defeat at home to Swansea City – without as much as a goal for the supporters to cheer – ramped up pressure on the manager’s position at Bolton, not least because it means Wanderers will spend the international break in the Championship’s relegation zone.

And as their fortnight occupying second-bottom spot begins Parkinson insists there is a steely determination at the club that will see them pick up points again soon.

“We are a very resilient group of people – that applies to the players and the staff – and that’s the challenge of being a manager,” he said following the 1-0 defeat to Swansea at the University of Bolton Stadium.

“It is tough when you are coming away from games and saying exactly the same spiel every week. Aston Villa, Swansea, Blackburn – games we should have got something from but didn’t.

“I said to the lads, people look at the Derby game as being our best of the season. I thought that (Swansea) was just as good. The passing and the approach play were great. The only difference was that, against Derby, Nooney (Craig Noone) got a goal at the back stick and we dug in.

“There’s no huge difference aside from scoring the goal.

“In reality, the difference is just putting the ball in the back of the net when we have those periods of pressure. it is just those final moments that cost us. We have to dust ourselves down, we have to keep working.

“No-one is going to hand us three points on a silver platter, we have to work hard to find them.”

Since coming to Bolton, Parkinson has led the club back to the second tier and, via that dramatic final-day escape last season, kept Wanderers in the Championship despite failing to win any of their first 11 league games.

Among the highs and lows in his two-and-a-half year stint, his current frustrations have not sunk Parkinson to his lowest ebb while in the Bolton hot seat.

“I have been lower than this, to be honest. It’s just so frustrating,” he added. “We are trying everything – absolutely everything – to turn things around and make these decent performances into results. We are constantly working on the little things to get results.

“We knew it was a big game (against Swansea) going into the international break and it’s been a tough run.”