PHIL Parkinson has instructed Wanderers to put a “scruffy” draw against MK Dons behind them and get back to winning ways.

It is 16 years since the Whites last started a league campaign with a seven-game unbeaten streak yet there were a few murmurs of discontent at the second half performance on Saturday.

Parkinson’s side are still two points clear at the top of the League One table despite turning in a below-par performance against the Dons.

And though the manager was clearly unhappy at the performance of referee Peter Bankes – who gave a hotly-contested second-half penalty against Lewis Buxton and turned down a big appeal from Jamie Proctor at the other end – he refused to pin the team’s problems on the officials.

“I moaned about the referee last week so I don’t want fans to think that’s all I do,” he told The Bolton News. “Look at the penalty decision, it was a joke. Proctor then gets wiped out in the middle of the goal as he’s about to head it or volley it towards goal, I don’t agree that it was not a penalty.

“But I don’t want to make that the major talking point. I want to analyse the performance, not the referee. We were untidy.

“We have got good enough players to get hold of the ball for longer spells and use it better than we did. No excuses, it was scruffy.

“We played really well last week against Southend and got a draw we felt should have been a win. If we had four points I’d have been happy. We haven’t, so we have to move on.”

Wanderers will be without Jay Spearing for next weekend’s trip to Walsall after the midfielder picked up a fifth yellow card of the season against MK Dons.

Injuries have already mounted up for Parkinson but he gave credit to his side for knuckling down in the first seven games regardless.

“We didn’t have Zach (Clough), Gary (Madine), Max (Clayton), not to mention Mark Davies or Darren Pratley, so we have had to cope with injuries to key players even at this early stage,” he said. “Could that have changed a result like that (MK Dons)? Maybe.”