Bolton Wanderers boss Owen Coyle left frustrated after narrow loss to local rivals Blackburn Rovers

Owen Coyle, Bolton

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Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle has expressed his frustration after seeing his side lose out by a single goal against local rivals Blackburn Rovers.

Martin Olsson scored the only goal of the game and capped a magnificent performance by the Swede, ending a run of 10 games without a win for Steve Kean’s side.

Coyle’s team were playing on the back of a 3-0 loss to Fulham with an injury-hit squad, but the former Burnley boss was left wanting more after Bolton failed to take advantage of the chances given to them.

“I was frustrated,” he told the press. “You come into the game, a local derby and the application of the lads was terrific and we had a makeshift team with different lads playing in different positions, but we started the game well, probably could and should have scored, hitting the post through young Rodrigo Moreno.”

The 44-year-old manager felt his team played well despite their shortcomings and their result in midweek.

Coyle also praised the presence of the Bolton fans and was understanding of the pressure that goes into a local derby.

He added: “We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with the goal – that’s the frustration and disappointment with the game, but I feel that most of the lads acquitted themselves well considering what they’ve had to give both physically and mentally when you consider how big the last couple of weeks have been for them and coming off a tough midweek game as well.

“You’re always disappointed to lose any game, particularly a local derby and I thought our fans were magnificent again but that’s the margins in this league. You have to come out on the right side of them and unfortunately today we haven’t.”

The game against Rovers was Bolton’s third in less than a week, something Coyle believes has taken its toll on his players and admitted how tough it has been not to have the advantage of depth within such a squad.

Coyle said: “You looked at some of the lads in the week and they were on their knees so we had to try and get some freshness into the team and obviously Daniel Sturridge was missing which would have helped us today as well because he would have been fresh considering he was missing during the week.

“We have the smallest squad in the division and that was shown at Christmas and January – we had three games where we only had 15 players available but I think they acquitted themselves well when conditions weren’t ideal with the wind that was certainly swirling about which suited the high ball but fair play, Blackburn have won the game, good luck to them in the relegation fight but we’re disappointed because of the effort we’ve brought, we’re a far better team than what we showed.”

However, the Scotsman remains proud of the achievements he been able to bring to the club since taking over nearly a year-and-a-half-ago, but knows he needs to add to the squad to make Bolton even stronger for the next campaign.

He concluded: “We’ve made remarkable progress in 16 months going from one of the teams that were favourites the relegation but what we have to do now is try and finish the season strongly.

“There are three games left, we have to go and gather as many points as we can in order to finish in a nice position in the league and show that we have made progress and then come the summer, try and add to the squad and take it a bit further.”