Never give up – Steven Schumacher hails Bolton spirit after late comeback

Steven Schumacher praised his team’s never-say-die attitude after 10-man Bolton came from 3-1 down against Huddersfield to snatch a club record-equalling 17th draw of the season.

Ibrahim Cissoko, an 88th-minute substitute, equalised in the 11th minute of stoppage time after Town had led 3-1 with 13 minutes remaining.

Skipper Eoin Toal gave Bolton a first-half lead but play-off rivals Town hit back with three goals in 13 minutes, David Kasumu’s double sandwiching a Marcus Harness penalty awarded after Jordi Osei-Tutu was red-carded for fouling Kasumu.

Johnny Kenny pulled a goal back before Cissoko scored a memorable left-foot curler – Bolton’s 13th beyond the 90th minute this season – to break Huddersfield hearts.

“It’s never boring, always eventful,” smiled manager Schumacher.

“We always make life hard for ourselves. We play nice footy but make mistakes too often.

“What no one can say against our team is we don’t try. They never give up.

“The amount of late goals is not a coincidence. When you have fitness levels, spirit and you have got quality in the squad you always have a chance.

“I felt we deserved to get a result from the game. But at 3-1 I thought this is a game that has got away from us.

“We should have been out of sight by half-time. We got ourselves ahead and should have scored more.

“However, the players have shown time and again they never give up.”

For Huddersfield, Bolton’s comeback was a bad case of deja vu having conceded stoppage-time equalisers to Cardiff in midweek and to Wycombe last weekend.

Interim coach Jon Stead said: “Some of the decision-making, when we get to the final stages, when the pressure is on, we have come up short.

“It is very hard to accept when we are playing some of the football we are playing; how we are putting teams to the sword and causing them problems.

“We responded fantastically well to going a goal behind. (At 3-1) I felt like we were cruising.

“We were in a good position to see the game out. And I don’t think we were done in terms of the goalscoring. I thought we could get another couple but again decisions cost us.

“When the heat is on we again came up short. It’s so frustrating. You cannot be a winning team and compete in an elite environment if you are naive and make silly mistakes under pressure.

“There is a mentality piece that needs to be addressed. Some of the work is top-drawer and players have shown what they are about as individuals.

“I am so pleased with a lot of the aspects but you need to be nasty, you need to be ruthless.”