AFTER the pain of Pride Park came an unexpected glimmer of hope… But Wanderers cannot bank on being given any more favours.

Defeat at Derby County felt to many fans like the end of Bolton’s automatic promotion hopes, despite Ian Evatt’s protests to the contrary.

It is puzzling to think that a team which has scored 101 goals in all competitions this season, a total beaten only by Liverpool and Manchester City, has so often been found guilty of not taking chances when they really matter.

Will these random bouts of wastefulness, also witnessed in defeats at Wigan, Blackpool and Reading, come back to haunt them? Time will tell.

Mercifully, Derby wasted a golden chance of their own last Saturday as they slipped to defeat at Northampton Town. Paul Warne’s Rams, now stripped of a few key players through injury and suspension are the ones feeling the pinch, knowing the chasing pack are just waiting for another slip.

Some scoffed at Evatt’s suggestion that his side were capable of winning their final seven games – something a Bolton team hasn’t done since Colin Todd’s First Division title winners in 1997. But it will take something just as remarkable if the current crop are to meet their own target of a top two spot, make no mistake.

Peterborough United and Barnsley have their own designs on a late dash for honours, and now they are the ones in possession of the game in hand. Both teams, dangerous in their own right, know the pain of play-off defeat just as well as Bolton.

Evatt has looked to the international break for some respite for several weeks, knowing it could give him time to bring crucial players back to fitness like Dion Charles and Nathan Baxter, both of whom have been badly missed. Whether they are ready to be chucked straight into the fiercest possible battle at Stevenage is doubtful – but to have them back training would be a huge plus in itself.

The Bolton manager prides himself in packing detail and information into his players and it may be argued that the lack of a more simplistic go-to plan has been to his cost in recent seasons. At this advanced stage of the campaign, however, the approach won’t change; Wanderers will go to the Lamex Stadium on Good Friday intending to play their opponents off the park.

They did so for long spells at Derby. Had they taken even a point from that game then the performance would have been widely applauded. Yet Evatt and his players know they blew a big chance by conceding from a sloppy set piece and failing to take one of a few presentable chances.

Wanderers simply cannot afford to leave themselves so vulnerable.

Over the last six games, only free-scoring Lincoln City (94) have had more shots at goal than Bolton (93) or managed as many shots on target (39 to 38), but the Imps have managed 21 goals compared to the Whites’ return of 11.

While Evatt can point to some misfortune on the injury front – losing his top scorer and first choice keeper within a couple of weeks of each other was a particularly bitter pill to swallow – he will know as a keen observer of statistics that Lady Luck has played a minimal part when it comes to the quality of the chances his team has created.

Like it or hate it, the xG in recent outings has had Bolton way in front. Simply put, they are creating the type of chances that should be winning games but not taking enough of them, or even in the moments that matter. And that is not a good habit to form at this stage of the season.

According to Opta Stats, Wanderers have the second-highest xG in League One (43.29) behind Peterborough United (55.30), but their tally of 48 goals suggests they are overperforming across the campaign as a whole.

That is especially the case at set pieces, where their xG of 9.35 goals is dwarfed by the 16 they have actually managed.

According to Whoscored.com's individual xG ratings, 11 Bolton players are overperforming, with George Thomason at the top of that list with an xG difference of 2.08.

Notably, Victor Adeboyejo is the only one of Evatt's out-and-out strikers who have a positive return with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (-2.7) and Cameron Jerome (-1.53) at the bottom of that list.

Friday’s hosts Stevenage won’t stand on ceremony, nor will they care how attractively victory is carved out. Their fast and furious brand of football has served them well, keeping them right in contention for a play-off place despite possessing one of the smallest playing budgets around.

Their form has wobbled in recent weeks, and Steve Evans has bemoaned some bad luck of his own during a run of two wins from the last 12. A last-minute equaliser at Carlisle United last weekend might just have been the corner he had been looking to turn.

Wanderers know the pressure they are under, the expectation they carry, the targets they set. Evatt knows that to drop into the play-off mix at this stage would be viewed as a severe blow.

It isn’t over. The manager was 100 per cent correct on that one. But they must take advantage of the chance they have been offered, in more ways than one.