CHRIS Forino accepts that Wanderers have not been fast enough out of the blocks this season.
The statistics show that only two teams – Shrewsbury Town and Crawley Town – produced worse first-half returns than Bolton this season.
The Whites had been in a winning position on 45 minutes just eight times in 46 attempts, fewer than anyone else except for relegated Crawley and Shrewsbury.
And under Steven Schumacher the trend has continued, with a winning lead in just one of 19 games in charge so far.
Speaking about the frustration felt by the players, the former Wycombe man said: “We're out there on the pitch, of course, we feel it just as much as the fans.
“We're out there. We don't want to start games badly. We're well aware we haven't started games good enough in the first half and the second half.
“We don't come out of the traps fine like other teams. That's something we need to jobs" target="_blank">work on. Of course we feel the pain.”
Speaking about the club’s depressingly poor start to games over the whole season, Forino added: “Nobody goes out there and deliberately tries to make a mistake, concede a goal, all that.
“And I’ve missed a big chuck of this season. I’m a defender and if you get undone by a great goal, or a brilliant bit of play, then fair enough, you hold your hands up.
“But before my injury or after, it has been a recurring theme that we have conceded soft goals.
“And it’s on us. The goals we have conceded this season just haven’t been right. You’ve got to come off the pitch and ask yourself a lot of questions.
“But the worst thing has been letting the fans down so regularly, especially away from home. We can’t take any pride from that.”
Forino came into fore in the second half of the season, shrugging off most of his injury problems to feature prominently at the heat of the defence.
But the 25-year-old does not relinquish himself from the blame for the way that Bolton’s season panned out.
“Fans have paid their hard-earned money, travel up and down the country. They don't expect us to sit and look confused for 20 minutes. That's on us as players.
“You've got to fire yourself up for a game. It's a group effort. It hurts, I'd imagine, doubly as a defender.
“Goals conceded have just not been right this season. Yes. Like I said, I've come off the pitch and I have to look at myself. That's where I'll start personally. I'll look at myself.
“We look to build a solid foundation going into the summer and hopefully build to go again.”
Wanderers have already been installed as one of the favourites for next season’s promotion despite missing out on the play-off spots by 10 points last time around.
And Forino is hopeful that with the right additions over the summer, they can be challenging at the top end of the division again.
“We have to build on solid foundations and go again,” he said. “I feel like we have an exciting squad. There are some really good players in there but it has gone wrong this season, sometimes really wrong.”
Share