Steven Schumacher urges Bolton players to remain patient for opportunity

Bolton manager Steven Schumacher highlighted the strength in depth of his side as they left it late to draw 1-1 at Leyton Orient.

A stoppage-time strike by Amario Cozier-Duberry broke home hearts after Jack Simpson looked to have secured all three points.

After their comprehensive win over Wimbledon last week, Schumacher kept the same starting XI – and has told his squad to keep patient.

He said: “I’ve got quality players on the bench, with fresh legs, waiting to come on. The effort is there.

“I’ve got lads saying to me when are they going to get an opportunity. I tell them they will get it.

“You can’t expect me to change the team when we’ve won 3-0 at home.

“Every opponent we will face in the league this season, we’re more than a match for. This is a difficult place to come.

“In football you tend to get what you deserve and I was pleased because we looked a constant threat.

“What is frustrating is that it’s a lack of concentration for us.”

After a lacklustre first half, Thierry Gale set the scene five minutes after the restart when he forced home goalkeeper Tommy Simkin to turn his effort away at full stretch.

A Xavier Simons shot from 25 yards sailed just past the post on 57 minutes while Dom Ballard put too much on his connection after dealing with the offside trap.

With the game finely poised, the hosts broke the deadlock after 69 minutes when Josh Koroma put the ball across the face of goal and Simpson was on hand to fire home from close range.

Going behind forced Bolton to push for a response and they looked to force the issue.

With eight minutes added time awarded, the equaliser came from Cozier-Duberry with a superb strike for the spoils.

While the honours were shared in East London, it was a disappointing end to the day for the hosts.

However, head coach Richie Wellens believed the result matched the performance of his team on the day.

He said: “It was an average performance, I’m pleased with the point even if we didn’t have too many chances.

“In injury time, we didn’t manage the game. We were still jumping, not blocking the space.

“So I’m all right with the point, considering we didn’t really do what we wanted to do to them.

“When Demetri Mitchell gets it deep we knew their wingers like to press narrowly. It was too hectic, nobody wanted to put their foot on the ball.

“Our performance was just okay. We’ve got so much more to give – we want to press, and do so aggressively, but we have to stay more composed.”