Home
Ian Evatt is taking solace from the fact Wanderers will have one more shot at non-league Stockport County in the FA Cup.
Though frustrated that his side blew a 2-1 lead at the UniBol, and struggled to make inroads into their lower ranked opponents in the second half, the Bolton boss was refusing to be too downbeat about the prospect of a replay at Edgeley Park.
“I am always frustrated when you don’t win but this is a competition which will bite you in the backside and there are lots of clubs of a similar stature and size to ours that are not in the hat for the next round,” he said.
“For now we have to take our medicine and make sure we do the right things in the replay and win it.”
Wanderers got themselves in front with goals from Eoin Doyle and Elias Kachunga but defensive errors left Stockport able to stay in the game with strikes from Scott Quigley and Ben Whitfield.
“We controlled the game start to finish, more or less, but it was two mistakes, sloppy goals, gave them the hope and belief,” Evatt said.
“We limited them to very little but, especially the second half, we didn’t move the ball quickly enough.
“We had possession but we were slow with the tempo of our play and didn’t work them hard enough.
“We are still in the hat but they had a lot of things in their favour – an amazing 5,000 fans, new manager, their tails were up and they had nothing to lose.
“Large parts of it were good for us but we just didn’t play quickly enough and need to cut out those mistakes.”
Evatt felt the tempo of the game in the second half had been too slow to wear down the Hatters – managed by ex-Bury defender Dave Challinor – and go for a third goal.
“When we have control and have possession, as we often do, we need to move it quickly,” he said.
“If you don’t it is easy for them to get set. We are not tiring them out because they can adjust in a walk or a jog. But when you move it at speed or with tempo you have to adjust quickly and if they don’t you can pick them off. If they do, they tire in the last half an hour.
“We had the control but we didn’t test them enough.”
George Thomason’s misplaced pass led to Stockport’s first and a poor kick from Joel Dixon, coupled with some dithering defending, allowed Whitfield to slide in an equaliser in first half stoppage time.
“They were really poor goals,” he said. “Before the first one I don’t think they had any possession of note and it looked like we would score at any point. But as we have done of late we blew a big hole in our foot.
“It was a bad decision from a young player but that can happen.
“We gathered ourselves and scored two excellent goals – the one from Doyle, the way we moved them, played quickly and the run in behind, the quality of cross was there for all to see.
“Kacha needed a goal and got one, which is important, but then before half time our game management wasn’t good enough. To empty the middle of the pitch and then Joel (Dixon) kicking long when he didn’t need to made it a transition – and that is what they were looking for.
“It was poor decision making but we are still in the hat and hopefully our fans will see what theirs have done today and we can go there and make it difficult for them.”
Source