Kachunga 'let himself down' but Evatt says Bolton should offer support

Ian Evatt has moved to calm the storm surrounding last night’s red card drama, insisting Elias Kachunga still has a future with Wanderers.

The experienced striker was booed off the pitch by some of his own supporters in the second half, having been involved in an incident which saw team-mate Dion Charles mistakenly sent off against Forest Green Rovers.

Kachunga was caught on replays lashing out at marking defender Brandon Cooper but the referee’s assistant Darren Williams picked out Charles as the guilty party.

Both Evatt and Kachunga tried to communicate the error to referee Tom Nield, to no avail, leaving Bolton to play the remaining 68 minutes of the match with 10 men.

A large section of fans cheered the decision to substitute Kachunga in the second half for MJ Williams and Evatt’s team held on for three points.

The former Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town front man has had a mixed experience since signing for Wanderers at the start of last season, due in the main to his low goal return of six in 75 appearances in all competitions.

Addressing the players’ reception from the crowd, Evatt said the club had a duty to support him in the long term – but could not excuse his actions on the night.

“Taking tonight out of the equation, I think he has had a rough time of things,” he told The Bolton News.

“I think he deserves more respect than sometimes he is shown.

“The goals thing, obviously we all see that, but there is so much more that he brings to the team.

“Today, he has let himself down. For tonight he has got nobody else to blame but himself. But in general – and they are two different things here – we should support him. He needs support.”

Few around the University of Bolton Stadium could explain the course of events after Charles walked – somewhat puzzled – back down the tunnel 28 minutes into Tuesday night’s game.

Asked whether fourth official Ollie Yates could have aided matters with his own input, Evatt said: “He isn’t allowed to see replays. Nobody else had seen it apart from the linesman.

“We can look at the replay right away but the fourth can’t, so all he could do is take the linesman’s version of events.

“The crazy thing was that the linesman who had shown real eagle eyes to spot the incident then mistakenly made the wrong decision with the player, and he was set that it was Dion.

“People may say ’10 men is 10 men’ but what that did do was restrict our counter attack because Dion has electric pace to get away from defenders. We can break and spring from that low block into a counter-attacking situation but we didn’t really have it with Kacha.

“Sometimes you think you have seen it all in football and then it comes out to surprise you again.”

The Football Association are expected to overturn Charles’s automatic three-match ban and then sit to decide a punishment for Kachunga before the weekend.

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I'm not the biggest fan of Kachunga and he needs punishing for last night as it could have cost us against a better team. He has very little goal threat and i would much rather have had 10 men with Charles in than him, it was like playing with 9 men last night.

If he does get a 3 match ban and comes back he will be even less popular with the crowd. I think we should get rid in the summer as he just isn't good enough.

I don’t really know the rules these days but surely violent conduct of that nature should be more punishable than a 3 game ban? It’s far worse than some straight red tackles I’ve seen.

finlaymcdanger wrote:I don’t really know the rules these days but surely violent conduct of that nature should be more punishable than a 3 game ban? It’s far worse than some straight red tackles I’ve seen.

I'm not excusing Kachunga but I think it worth watching the build up to him throwing the punch.

If you look at the incident on the match highlights and see the punch, then stop the video and this time watch Kachunga, you will see the defender throw his arm/hand into Kachunga' s face.  Stop the video again and this time keep your eyes on the defender - you will see him deliberately look to see where Kachunga is before he 'catches' him in the face - so it was a deliberate act.

Ok, if you now look at the picture below, where Kachunga is trying to tell the ref what happened, you will see that he is bleeding from the mouth.

Although it looked like a hand/arm the defender put in Kachunga' s face, it is more likely - with the damage done to his mouth - that he was in fact deliberately elbowed.

Fwiw I would have 'smacked' the defender too - you don't fear no one on the pitch, at least I didn't - if they wanted to play hard I would certainly oblige them.

Then again I wasn't a professional player with TV cameras covering the games I played in.

Dear me, if every player who got an arm in the face starting throwing punches there wouldn't be a single match ending 11 v 11.

Get back to talking figures sluffy, leave the football chat to experts like me.

He was an absolute knob, and should be shown the door for his actions. Thank fook his contract is up in June.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Dear me, if every player who got an arm in the face starting throwing punches there wouldn't be a single match ending 11 v 11.

Get back to talking figures sluffy, leave the football chat to experts like me.

He was an absolute knob, and should be shown the door for his actions. Thank fook his contract is up in June.

I very much suspect that a lot goes on undetected at lower league football - didn't Evatt say something along the lines of 'it wasn't the done thing' to raise issues that the officials had missed after a game was over, when he spoke about the Dapo 'elbowing' incident that the ref didn't spot.

Leaving aside Kachunga's playing ability, I was simply trying to point out that he was the one retaliating to an original foul and not as it appeared something moronic he simply just did without any reason.

The right thing for him to have done was probably go down for the foul but I guess in that split second he just wanted to hit the bloke back, which I think is probably what most of us would have done too.

I know I would have got my own back but maybe later on in the game when he was least expecting it...

I can't believe you're trying to compare what goes on in the greatest league in the world to your participation in Slough's Over 65's Walking Football League.

You may well twat your 87 year old opponent when he's least expecting it, and you may even get the odd admiring glance from the female pensioners of Slough because of it, but in League 1 it is unprofessional and can cost valuable points.

Sluffy & Kachunga out.

Sluffy wrote:



I very much suspect that a lot goes on undetected at lower league football - didn't Evatt say something along the lines of 'it wasn't the done thing' to raise issues that the officials had missed after a game was over, when he spoke about the Dapo 'elbowing' incident that the ref didn't spot.

Leaving aside Kachunga's playing ability, I was simply trying to point out that he was the one retaliating to an original foul and not as it appeared something moronic he simply just did without any reason.

The right thing for him to have done was probably go down for the foul but I guess in that split second he just wanted to hit the bloke back, which I think is probably what most of us would have done too.

I know I would have got my own back but maybe later on in the game when he was least expecting it...

True, he was reacting, but it was a silly, heat of the moment action that could have cost us.
The problem is, holding and grabbing at corners has become the norm now, and is widely accepted.
If the same things happened in the centre circle they'd be fouls, and until the refs start blowing up for them in the area, it'll continue.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I can't believe you're trying to compare what goes on in the greatest league in the world to your participation in Slough's Over 65's Walking Football League.

You may well twat your 87 year old opponent when he's least expecting it, and you may even get the odd admiring glance from the female pensioners of Slough because of it, but in League 1 it is unprofessional and can cost valuable points.

Sluffy & Kachunga out.

I was talking when I was much, much younger and where we were taught to 'get your retaliation in first'!

Back in the day I was a defender and not the quickest on the field, so I always tried to get a hard tackle in as early as possible, aiming to take both the man and the ball with the intention that the player would rather pass the ball the next time on he got it rather than take me on again.

It worked too most of the time but the ones who really could play a bit could take a hit and give one back too.

Those were the ones who I enjoyed playing against the most.

Happy days, long ago.