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Ian Evatt says he is “so proud” of his Wanderers side after their narrow defeat against Luton in the FA Cup.
Bolton went in front through Dion Charles but the visitors hit back through Tahith Chong and Chiedozie Ogbene to seal their place in the fourth round.
Charles thought he had got the Whites back on level terms but it was chalked off by a late offside call from the officials.
“I haven’t seen it back, it looked a tight call,” said Evatt. “The explanation I was given was that Dion had impacted the keeper.
“I don’t know, sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against you. I think we deserved a goal, we deserved at least an equaliser.
“I am so proud of the players to hopefully make everyone else proud. Our aim and ambition tonight was to go out there and do Iain proud, do his family proud and do our fanbase proud.”
Despite coming up just short on the night, the Bolton boss knows there are plenty of positives to take into the final months of the campaign.
“I am a little bit upset with the result because I thought we deserved more, we were excellent,” Evatt continued.
“Their staff, who I have a lot of respect for, and the players coming off the pitch were very complimentary about what we did tonight.
“I watched the game on Friday against Burnley and (Luton) completely dominated, physically and technically. Tonight, I think we more than matched them at times which we have to take great credit for.”
He added: “We got punished tonight and that is the one thing I told the players. Against Premier League opposition, you get punished if you make mistakes.
“You have to be tight with everything you do and you can’t afford to give them opportunities because they take them. But what I have learnt about my team is once again, they responded.
“That was a new level and bar set for performances and if we can replicate that, starting on Saturday at Leyton Orient and then as many times as possible, we will have no worries with our ambitions this year.”
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