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Ian Evatt looked longingly towards the January window after watching his side come up short at Pompey but insisted he had no regrets about allowing Antoni Sarcevic leave the club.
The Wanderers boss bemoaned a lack of attacking options at Fratton Park as he tried to change fortunes from the bench at 1-0 down.
It had been just over a week since the club released attacking midfielder Sarcevic to join non-league Stockport County – and though it will be another eight before Evatt has a chance to boost his squad in the transfer window, he stands by his decision.
“January is a long way away and as you have seen in three weeks a lot can happen in football,” he said after the final whistle. “But there is no doubt about it that we need to recruit and improve in January, and we will do where necessary.
“Every decision that I have taken is with the benefit of this football club in mind, no other reason. There is nothing personal, I have done it for the sake of this football club and for the benefit of Bolton Wanderers moving forward.”
Asked specifically about Sarcevic’s departure, he added: “I have said what I have to say on that, but all I can say is I make what decisions benefit this football club long term.”
John Marquis’s winning goal for Portsmouth stemmed from a couple of errors – one from auxiliary right-back Lloyd Isgrove, then another from goalkeeper Joel Dixon as he tried to push a scuffed shot off the line.
“I love the game, we all love the game, and sometimes it is very cruel,” Evatt said. “You get punished for every slight mistake. That is a slight mistake and that leads to a huge mistake which costs us a goal and costs us the game.
“The whole stadium could feel that we were in control. They could all feel that we were waiting to score really, they were waiting for us to beat them and we just couldn’t get that goal, and a poor mistake just changes everything, changes the whole game and it gives them impetus that they had no right to get really.
“We are not going to feel sorry for ourselves, we’ll keep fighting. It’s nothing we haven’t been through before.
“We have got a strong belief in what we do. I have got a strong belief in myself, the players have a strong belief, we have just got to re-find it.” Wanderers go into cup mode for the next week, with a Papa John’s Trophy match at Rochdale on Tuesday and then an FA Cup game against Stockport – and Sarcevic – next weekend.
Evatt is confident his players can pick up some momentum.
“We have got some good fixtures coming up,” he said. “And we have some players that are close to returning from injury, so we will get these players back in 100 per cent condition and ready to go again for the next couple of games.”
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