MATCH REACTION: Ian Evatt gives his verdict on 1-0 defeat at Pompey

Ian Evatt says he was left ‘without a Plan B’ in defeat at Portsmouth.

The Wanderers boss reckons the lack of attacking options on his bench left him unable to change things in the second half after John Marquis’s fortuitous 51st minute strike put Pompey ahead.

Bolton are missing Amadou Bakayoko, Xav Amaechi and Gethin Jones through injury allowed Antoni Sarcevic to leave for Stockport County last week.

And Evatt feels his side’s poor form, which now runs to no wins in five games, has had an adverse effect on confidence.

“It has been a perfect storm – we have had injuries, suspensions, unavailability, mistakes that have cost us games. We haven’t taken our chances and we have been hit,” he said.

“When all of that comes together you end up on a bad run, there’s no denying it, but we have to keep fighting and showing strong will.

“We haven’t got a plan B because we don’t have the options at the minute, but we can’t just go direct because we are not built for it.

“We have got to get back to doing what we do. And because of the run we are on, we lack a bit of confidence, which you saw when we conceded the goal.

“Players don’t accept the ball where they should and so we don’t dominate the ball like we can.”

Wanderers hit the woodwork three times, with Dapo Afolayan having a shot pushed on to the bar, Declan John hitting the upright and Eoin Doyle glancing the frame of the goal in the second half.

But they were hit by a scrappy goal after half time when Lloyd Isgrove’s slip allowed Ronan Curtis to cross for Marquis, whose shot was squeezed past Joel Dixon via the crossbar.

“In your good spells you have to score, especially in tough places like this,” he said.

“Second half it is a really poor goal from a mistake, When you are on this type of run and have the injuries and illnesses we have then everything seems to go against you.

“We had no options to change it – had to bring on defenders for fresh legs because the lads who were trying to play haven’t played for so long.

“It is a rough run at the moment but now we have a two-week break in the league and we have to make sure we win our cup games, build up some form in the league and get some confidence and belief.

“We hit the bar twice and hit the post. We conceded a very, very poor goal and that is no criticism of Joel, he has been excellent for us – it’s probably his first big mistake but it is one that cost us today.

Evatt was only able to bring on Harry Brockbank and George Johnston with his side a goal down but was relatively pleased with Will Aimson and Nathan Delfouneso, who both came into the side at Fratton Park.

“Will did really well before he ran out of energy and we needed some impetus but I had to bring on two defenders because I had nobody else. I had no forward players, they are all injured or unavailable. It never rains but it pours sometimes and we have to stick together.

“We have been through this type of run before and we will do it again,” he said.

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