IAN Evatt admits Wanderers rode their luck with 10 men against Peterborough United – but praised his players’ resilience to hold on to a point.

After Jonson Clarke-Harris and Victor Adeboyejo had traded goals at the end of an open first half, a straight red card for Gethin Jones completely changed the game’s dynamic.

Wanderers dug in for the majority of the second half, Posh hit the woodwork three times, but the visitors also had a few nervous moments towards the end as Evatt’s side threatened to pull off a surprise win.

“At the end, it is a point gained,” reasoned the Bolton boss. “The players have done remarkably well to take a point from that having been down to 10 for so long, with the injuries we have got in those positions. To keep a really potent attack out for so long was really good to see. It took a lot of hard work.

“I said to the players there: ‘Yes we have ridden our luck a little bit but one of my favourite phrases is that hard work puts you where good luck can find you”. I think today our work ethic and resilience that we didn’t show last week at Reading was there for all to see.

“I am glad we got a point. The rest of the game is going to take some debriefing.”

Jones’s challenge on Ricky Jade-Jones prompted referee Ross Joyce to show a straight red card.

Evatt says he will review the incident from different angles before deciding whether to appeal but his immediate reaction was that it should only have been a booking.

“I think it is a yellow. I do. I see those types of tackles a lot.

“For me, again it was the consistency of what was a yellow and what was not. Our players make tackles, we get yellows, their players make tackles, they don’t. Our players are not in front of the officials, they are not rolling around on the floor.

“I spoke to the referee after the game and he gave me an honest opinion on what he thought with the red. I obviously disagreed but at least we have had that conversation.”

Evatt was also booked in the aftermath of the Jones challenge – which left him questioning the officials after the game.

“The biggest frustration, believe it or not, is my yellow card,” he added. “I didn’t swear, I wasn’t aggressive, I wasn’t abusive. I took a step out of my technical area to which I saw their manager leave the technical area, one of their players leave the pitch on his knees with his head in his hands trying to persuade the fourth official. Their assistant left his seat and got to the front of the pitch where you are only supposed to have one up.

“And yet in all that melee and all that chaos, I got yellow carded. I asked that question of the official after the game and the answer I got was that the fourth official’s focus was on me. Again, that is confusing and baffling.

“That is all I want to say on the rest of the matter. The players did unbelievably well to come out with a point.”

Playing against 10 men did not necessarily suit Posh, who had revelled in the open space of the opening 45 minutes. They ended up putting 25 shots on Bolton’s goal but Evatt was pleased with the defensive effort after losing captain Ricardo Santos to a hamstring injury in the build-up.

“I’d said regardless of what team we picked we would always be competitive and I think we were,” he said. “Before the red card it was a really good game. They looked threatening and dangerous in transition and on the counter, they put a lot of crosses into the box and that front four is very dangerous but once we linked passes and got in behind them, especially on the right hand side, we also looked dangerous.

“I think what happened really spoiled the game for 21,000 fans, which was disappointing.”