JAY Matete has got the taste for goals after his double against Lincoln City.
The midfielder – implored to shoot by the Bolton fans at every juncture in the second half of Sunday’s game – insists his striking instincts are better than his rather slender scoring record suggests.
Matete has scored seven career goals in 142 senior appearances, which also includes one for Grimsby Town against Bolton in the League Two days.
After coming inches away from a spectacular hat-trick against the Imps, you can bet on the Sunderland loanee getting more encouragement from the terraces at Mansfield on New Year’s Day.
“It was great,” he said of the supporters’ cajoling. “Every time I got the ball, wherever I was.
“Scoring more is something I want to do, chip in with a few goals, so hopefully that is a start.
“I’m not known for it, really, but I have got a strike on me, I tell you, in training.
“I do a few extras, I can shoot, I am just glad I showed it.
“I had never scored a hat-trick and I was desperate to get one. I can’t believe it hit the bar. But I’ll be trying again next week, don’t worry.
“The last one I scored was ages ago at Morecambe away (April 2023), so I definitely needed one.
“The team needs the midfielders to chip in with goals, here and there. It’s something I want to do and I’ll keep working on it.”
In the absence of the injured Josh Sheehan, Matete has dropped into a lone ‘pivot’ role in the middle of the park. It is a job he has filled before and requires him taking on more possession than any other midfielder.
On Sunday against Lincoln he had more than twice the number of touches of Klaidi Lolos and nearly double that of captain George Thomason. He also registered five shots on goal and had more successful ground duels than any other player on the pitch, aside for Josh Dacres-Cogley.
Bringing those all-action displays on a consistent basis is the next task, and Matete feels the whole team now has a better appreciation of the levels required as they go to Field Mill.
“We knew we had to do something more after Barnsley and I felt like we moved the ball smoother, especially in the first half when it was 11v11, we were still dominant and locked the pitch out well, I’d say,” he said.
“We did a lot of work on the training ground about trusting each other and getting up the pitch and staying on the front foot and I think it showed.
“We need to build on that now. Keep the ball rolling.
“Mansfield away will be a tough one, they are a good team.
“It has been up and down too much, so we need to back things up now.
“We’ve been in the position too many times where we get a good win and then the following game we drop points.
“We want to start a run. I can’t really put my finger on why we haven’t had that consistency, I can’t give a reason for exactly why it has happened but I know it is something that can be put right.”
Wanderers have been searching for consistency and know they must make considerably more of the second half of their season if they are to make up lost ground on the top teams in the division.
They do have an opportunity to return to the top six for the first time since October with a win at Mansfield, albeit only if Barnsley drop points against Wrexham and Reading lose their game at Cambridge United.
To compete for the top two places, Bolton would need a run comparable with the one they enjoyed in Evatt’s first season, where they won 16 of the last 22 games - taking 51 out of a possible 66 points – to clinch third spot in the table.
And early in that run was a memorable mud-filled win at Mansfield, the points secured by Arthur Gnahoua's late strike.
The pressure and expectation have, at times, seemed heavy burdens for the players and their manager but faced by a run of four straight away games – one of which is at Lincoln in the Vertu Trophy – Matete believes there is strength to be drawn from the travelling fans.
“I wouldn’t say it is better being away from home but I’ve found the travelling fans make it feel like we are there anyway, they are really loud,” he said.
“We do enjoy playing in front of them anywhere, they’re a really solid set of fans.
“But obviously we want to put smiles on faces, we have to start backing up these results.”
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