FRUSTRATED that his side had not kept their cool in a heated 90 minutes at Luton but pleased that they retained a point under heavy pressure at the end, Steven Schumacher had conflicted feelings at the final whistle.
Kyle Dempsey had put Bolton ahead early on and they should have gone on to build a bigger lead in a first half they dominated.
But the Whites lost their grip on the game in the second half and when Xavier Simons was sent off for a second bookable offence with 20 minutes remaining, it seemed unlikely that they would withstand the barrage of pressure imposed by a physical Hatters side.
Sure enough, sub Gideon Kodua managed to haul his side level. And with several minutes still to play, Wanderers had to defend for their lives at the end to make sure they went back home with something to show from the trip.
Schumacher had been pleased with a point at home to Bradford City last week but felt differently after watching his side surrender their advantage against Luton.
“I'm kind of disappointed with the point,” he said. “I know last week I said I wasn't disappointed with the point, so I'm contradicting myself, but I am a little bit in this performance because for 45 minutes of that game there, we were well on top.
“We were so much better than Luton were in the first half and I just felt that we missed an opportunity really and didn't get that second goal. We didn't capitalise on all of our good play. Obviously, in football, two halves of football are never the same.
“But even in the start of the second half, we looked like we were the team who were going to score. Amario (Cozier-Duberry) got in a couple of times with their centre-back and we just didn't manage to hit the target. To only hit the target once all day probably tells the story.
“So I'm disappointed that we didn't manage to make the most of the good play. Once the red card happens, it's back to the wall and in the end, we come away with a point but I felt like we should have had more.”
Just 17 minutes passed between Simons’ first yellow card and his second, and, again, Schumacher felt slightly upset that his midfielder had not shown more composure.
“I thought he made contact with the ball on the first tackle, but the ref obviously didn’t,” he said. “We spoke about this at half-time. We said, stay on your feet, show composure, don't give unnecessary free kicks away.
“Because when the pressure gets going in a place like this, the refs can't wait to make decisions for the home team. So, you've just got to be cool in those ice-cold moments, and Xav wasn't, especially after he's been on a yellow card, he's got to do better.
“I can't remember how far apart both yellow cards were, but it didn't feel like it was long. He's got to do better and stay on his feet and just give the referee no option. But once he's sent them off, then it's back to the wall and thankfully we've come away with something from it.”
Wanderers had been on top for the majority of the first half, even though they did get a stroke of luck when Jerry Yates somehow diverted Jacob Brown’s goal-bound shot over the crossbar from less than six yards.
Schumacher had been pleased with the way his side stuck to the gameplan to that point but admitted their performance waned after the break.
“We played so well,” he said. “The game plan that we set out to do, the way that we had control of the ball, the spaces that we were finding our four players in were there.
“I just felt that a couple of times once we got into good areas in the first half, we just missed that final pass on the execution and just lacked that little bit of quality, which sometimes is what it is. But I was happy going in at 1-0, but I had a little bit of a go at the team because I felt there should have been more for the control that we had and the play that we had. We should have had probably more from it.
“And we said, could we just be a bit more clinical in the second half and stick to the game plan? The game, as I say, became a bit more scrappy in the second half. It was a bit more long balls and it suited them and they got a bit of momentum. And then once the red card happened, then obviously they were going to have all the balls from then and we had to defend.
“But in the end, I know I'm disappointed, but it's still a good point because it puts another one on the board and it keeps us moving in the right direction and keeps the momentum going.”
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