Bolton’s Matt Taylor delighted with ‘extremely positive’ Premier League performance this season

EPL – Bolton Wanderers vs Blackpool, Neal Eardley and Matt Taylor(Getty Images)

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Bolton Wanderers midfielder Matt Taylor has spoken of his pride at the club’s performance in the Premier League this season despite losing to a last-minute goal against Sunderland in their most recent encounter.

Bolton looked to have rescued a point when Ivan Klasnic’s 87th minute strike cancelled out Bolo Zenden’s first-half goal, but a last minute strike from Sulley Muntari won the game for the Black Cats leaving Owen Coyle’s men ninth in the Premier League table – something Taylor feels everyone should be proud of.

“I think you have to look at this season as an extremely positive one,” he told the club’s official website.

“You see where we were last year, and the season before, and the club has taken strides forward.

“I’d suggest that we haven’t spent anything like those around us. You have to look at that as a positive.

“From a players’ point of view, and maybe a fans’ point of view, if you’d offered us a top-ten finish at the end of last season we would have taken it.

“It’s only disappointing when you think of what could have been, if we had got the results that our performances warranted.”

And Taylor admits there was frustration in the Bolton dressing room that they hadn’t killed off Sunderland long before Muntari’s strike won the points for the Black Cats.

“We had enough chances to be quite honest but what can you do? It was one of those days,” he continued.

“If I was a fan going away from the game I wouldn’t be saying my team hadn’t created enough, I’d be complaining we hadn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

After Klasnic’s strike Bolton still had another chance to win the game through Kevin Davies before Sunderland struck the killer blow, and Taylor was reflective on the outcome of the game and praised his colleagues for the effort they showed.

“All you can do is keep buying the raffle ticket and hope the ball goes in. You have to gamble late on and we did do,” he continued.

“Goals win games and it shows you at the end when Davo knocked it in and Bardsley cleared one off the line.

“The margins are so slim, you get punished if you don’t put your chances away.”