IAN Evatt admitted too many of his players were “under par” as Wanderers exited the Carabao Cup against Bradford City.

Playing their first competitive games since March, the Whites went behind to Lee Novak’s 26th minute strike but hauled themselves into it through Antoni Sarcevic – one of 11 debutants on the day.

They gave away a sloppy second, however, with Bradford sub Harry Pritchard heading unchallenged to restore the Bantams’ lead.

“I am frustrated, I think we have more to give that that,” said Evatt after the final whistle. “We had more of the possession, particularly in the first half, and started the second half we with a good goal but then huffed and puffed without creating much more.

“We came away from what was getting us joy and conceded a really poor goal.

“It’s difficult then to get one back in that short space of time.

“When we are not free-scoring and breaking teams down we can’t afford to give goals away like that.

“A cross in our box, unopposed, is tough enough to take. And then a free header in our box when we have got enough bodies back to cope with it isn’t acceptable.

“We controlled the ball but the difference was that their front two was more difficult to control than ours. We had too many people under par.”

Wanderers fielded a team comprised entirely of players who had signed or re-signed this summer and also brought Shaun Miller off the bench, having announced him just 90 minutes before kick off.

But the net result was a vaguely disappointing display which left the manager with food for thought.

“Football isn’t complicated,” he said. “You can talk about tactics all day long but it’s one v one, 11 v 11, and we didn’t win enough of our battles.

“When we scored we thought ‘go on then’ get a second or third. But we didn’t switch the ball enough, we were putting the ball back into bodies and helping their press. First half we’d done that well but didn’t play with enough tempo or quite be incisive enough to cause them problems. We did at the start of the second half but then came away from it.

“We trained really well this week – but we have to take it into games.

“As disappointed as I am, and I want to win games, I don’t think we’re that far away. There’s loads more to come.

“Some people are trying too hard, running too much, especially the front lads.

“They need to stay in the width of the goal. We don’t need Eoin Doyle playing right wing or left wing.”