Crunch time approaching for Bolton

Bolton manager Owen Coyle says Tuesday’s clash with Blackburn is the club’s biggest game of the season.

Bolton’s losing streak continued with a 2-0 defeat by Fulham on Saturday, meaning the Blackburn game is crucial.

Both teams are in the relegation zone, with Blackburn one point above last-placed Bolton.

“I think we’ve got to win on Tuesday, and then we won’t be bottom at Christmas,” Coyle said.

“If you’re a bit presumptuous, then fair enough. But the bottom line is, you have to win games.”

“You can throw out whatever record or statistic that you want, but the beauty of football is that it gives you a chance to sort that out by winning matches.”

“We need to go to Blackburn on Tuesday now and get a win. It’s a huge game for both of us because they also lost today.”

“When you’re on a disappointing run as we are, the next game becomes even bigger. So for our part on Tuesday night, that becomes the biggest game of our season.”

Coyle’s Bolton side were beaten by two goals in quick succession in the first half, and the manager admitted the defeat was a self-inflicted wound after some bad defending let the hosts in.

“I think we all saw that over the course of 30 seconds or so we shot ourselves in the foot,” he said.

Fulham manager Martin Jol sang the praises of striker Bryan Ruiz, who scored a stunning second goal for the hosts.

Jol believes now the Costa Rican is injury free, he is turning out performances that justify his 10.6-million-pound transfer.

“I expect him (Ruiz) to do what he did today because that’s what he used to do on a weekly basis,” Jol said.

“Of course here it’s a different ball game but I felt that he did well over the past three or four games when he started. Especially at Arsenal.”

“Today he was not perfect, obviously, but he set up a goal and he can score goals like the one he did against Everton, that’s the sort of goal that he scores and you won’t see many players who can score goals like that.”

“The main thing was his fitness. He had a big injury in Holland then when he came here he was not 100 percent fit.”

“Then he had an injury again so he was out for three or four weeks. Now, if you look at his stats and confidence, I think he’s getting there.”