IAN Evatt has vowed to redouble his efforts to get Wanderers on to a winning trail.

After losing his opening five games, the Bolton boss faces perhaps the most important week of his reign so far as he picks a side capable of reversing those bad fortunes at Harrogate.

Tension has mounted in the dressing room and among the supporters after the club’s worst start to a season in more than 50 years but Evatt remains positive he can change things for the better.

“We feel that we need a goal – whether it’s the first one or an equaliser – I know then that the lads will relax more,” he told The Bolton News.

“The longer this run goes on, the more tense they are getting.

“But I can’t emphasise enough that we have to make our own luck now. We have to roll up our sleeves and work harder.

“If the players think they are doing enough, they are not.

“I include myself. What can I do to make us better? I will analyse again and work very hard to turn it around.

“We have got a very talented group of players but talent means nothing if we’re getting out-worked, and that’s what is happening at the moment.”

Evatt is concerned that his own club’s analysis of games is showing that his players are not covering enough ground.

The slow start has come as a surprise to the Whites head coach but he has vowed to get to the bottom of the cause.

“It’s taking longer than we wanted,” he said. “We analyse every game and though we have been beaten in the three league games, we could probably have won all three in different circumstances, taking our chances. I don’t think there has been much in the games.

“We haven’t been good enough, and in my opinion we haven’t worked hard enough to win them.

“We look at data all the time and it can be analysed in different ways, interpreted in different ways. The stuff I look at – and we have an algorithm for this – is how much distance we’re covering.

“The more you cover, the better chance you have of winning games. And we’re not covering enough, not showing enough intensity with and without the ball.

“We did for a five-minute spell when we scored the goal after they’d scored the first but that needs to be from minute one. It isn’t happening.

“It’s obviously some sort of fear, a lack of confidence. It shouldn’t stop you running and want to win tackles and headers. “We have to work and figure that out.”