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A sloppy first-half display cost Wanderers dearly at Lincoln City – with Ian Evatt at a loss to explain why his side took so long to get firing.
Trailing 1-0 at the break to Ben House’s opportunistic 10th minute effort, Bolton put in one of their poorest 45 minutes of the season at Sincil Bank.
They emerged after half time a different prospect and having got themselves level through Eoin Toal, had the numerical advantage when Joe Walsh was sent off for the home side with half an hour left to go.
Wanderers created a couple of presentable chances to win the game – Amadou Bakayoko bungling one close-range effort wide – but Evatt could not shrug-off the feeling of disappointment.
“The first half and second half was night and day. In the first half we didn’t play with the right energy or intensity, or the right attitude. It took some stern words at half time for us to play angry and then you could see the difference,” he said.
“We had them completely penned in during the first half and I thought the officials completely lost control of the game at times. They needed to manage some of the shenanigans that were going on a lot better.
“We had the better chances again to win it at the end. We have to score – they are massive opportunities and they have to go in.”
Evatt had made three changes to the side that drew with Derby bringing in Kieran Sadlier for his first league start of the season along with Kyle Dempsey and MJ Williams.
But the Whites laboured in the first half, Dempsey registering the only effort of note with a curling shot from the edge of the penalty box.
“I don’t know what excuse they could use, and we shouldn’t be making them,” Evatt said.
“The only thing that possibly comes to mind is the magnitude of Tuesday and the effort that went into it. We have tried to freshen it up a little bit without changing too much.
“We just didn’t have the energy. We played slow, we pressed slow, we conceded a really poor goal from a set piece. It was disappointing.
“Credit to the players, they had a right go in the second half and got something from the game.”
Walsh’s red card – given by referee Geoff Eltringham for two bookable offences inside four minutes – made Lincoln retreat deeper to protect their point. Evatt maintained his side still created chances that were worthy of winning the game.
“In many ways that makes it harder because they completely sacrifice and completely camp behind the ball. There is no space whatsoever,” he said.
“Having said that we put in two brilliant crosses and had two headed chances where we really should have scored. There were also a few balls into the box where we just didn’t have the right people in the right areas.
“We needed five or 10 minutes longer and to be a little more patient. But we didn’t win the game because of the first half not the second.”
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