JASON Lowe admits he only has himself to blame after spending three hellish weeks on the side-lines at Wanderers.

The club captain was handed the first straight red card of his whole football career against Shrewsbury on December 29 for a lunging challenge on Ollie Norburn which landed him three-match ban.

Lowe could hardly bear to watch as Keith Hill’s side lost successive games against Burton, Rochdale and Lincoln but after returning to the starting line-up against Portsmouth at the weekend the midfielder is keen to get himself back on track.

“It has been difficult but it’s my own fault,” he told The Bolton News. “Ollie leapt out of the tackle a little bit and it maybe looked a bit worse than it was, but I can’t have any arguments with the red card, it’s purely down to me. I can’t ever remember getting one and it was a strange feeling.

“Selfishly, I didn’t even want to go out for the second-half because I’d get a bit of anxiety watching it. I wanted to sit down, reflect and hope the boys dug in for a point, which they did.

“Now I am back out there it’s nice to fight for the cause.

“It was horrible watching the lads have to play three games over the festive period and not be able to help them out, and I am sorry for that. But it’s good to be back now and try to do my best to support the team.

“I spoke to him after the game and apologised for any harm caused. As you get older you do learn tricks of the trade but sometimes you don’t get them right, and I certainly didn’t there.”

Though Wanderers slipped to a fourth successive defeat against Pompey on Saturday, Lowe feels the second-half performance in particular gives scope to build.

The postponement of Saturday’s game at Shrewsbury, however, means the club are forced to wait another 10 days before stepping out on the pitch once again.

“You can look at the break two ways,” Lowe said. “You never know if signings are coming in, we’re still in the middle of January, so it gives that opportunity for new players to bed themselves in a bit more.

“The flip side is that I think it was a good performance against Portsmouth and if there was a game at the weekend, we’d be able to move on quickly from the result.”