KIERAN Sadlier reckons if Wanderers can offer him the consistent football he craves, he can grab another double-figure goal tally next season.

The playmaker has managed 10 goals split between his time with the Whites and Rotherham United in a year where he has spent a frustratingly large portion of his time on the bench.

Since January Sadlier has proved a valuable addition to Ian Evatt’s squad, playing in a few different positions, including wing-back, but continuing to present an attacking threat.

And the 27-year-old is confident the goals will continue to flow if he can stay in the manager’s starting line-up next term.

“I looked at the stats the other day and I’ve played a few games more than I did at Rotherham,” he told The Bolton News.

“It was just very stop-start there and when I played I did well, but there was just no consistency to playing.

“Here I’ve played quite a few on the bounce and I think that gives any player confidence really that the manager trusts you.

“Over periods of time, the consistency, you can see with my goals to games ratio is really good and to be fair, I’ve managed somehow to get double figures this season, which was a target of mine at the start of the season, but I didn’t realise the other day until I’d done it.

“Now I’m just really motivated for next season and if I can do that in a season where it’s been quite stop-start, what can I do next season when I can hopefully play more regularly.”

Sadlier found his feet quickly at Bolton once he got into the side but admits it took him a few weeks to feel match sharp.

Evatt’s high-pressing style requires good levels of fitness, especially in the wing-back position where Sadlier finished the campaign, and the former West Ham trainee says the style suits him perfectly.

“Sharpness I think is a big thing, sharpness in training, and we do a lot of keep ball and a lot of pressing,” he said. “It keeps you sharp and I think just those triggers to know when to press and when to not.

“When I’m playing regularly, I definitely feel really fit and it becomes much easier getting up and down the pitch. I have really enjoyed it.

“I think a lot of the way teams play now, it has changed a lot, especially the last five years. You have to be fit. You can’t get away with someone in the team not being up to the fitness levels and to be fair, most of the teams I’ve played in, everyone has been fit in the last few years.”

Sadlier feels he made the right move in January when he left Rotherham – a team now heading to the Championship – to settle in the North West.

“It has definitely been the right move,” he said. “But to be honest there was no risk about it for me. It felt good from the start.

It’s perfect for me, on the pitch and off the pitch as well, settling in to a new city and I know people up here anyway so it’s been really good and the football, now I’m in the team and doing well, confidence is good. I’m really looking forward to next season already and what we can do.”

 

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