Rotherham boss Matt Hamshaw admitted he was left confused by Wanderers’ opening goal on the stroke of half time.
As Josh Sheehan wheeled away in celebration, the visitors appealed strongly for an offside against Thierry Gale.
“I don't know what offside is anymore,” said Hamshaw. “It's just hard to say because the interpretation of the rule is if you make contact or if you block the view.
“But the player clearly runs across Hamish Douglas who's going to clear it. He’s coming from an offside position.
“I don't know what more to say. We don't have VAR, we don't have the Premier League gadgets.”
Hamshaw felt that the goal “galvanised” his side in the second half and saw plenty of positives to take from the overall performance.
“It's a bad time to concede. Any goal you concede just before half time is a bad goal,” he added. “However, I think it galvanised the group a little bit in there. They felt hard done by.
“I said, ‘Look, sometimes you come into these games and it's tough enough as it is’. So I thought it galvanised the players.
“It's sometimes hard to go and press Bolton because of how good the movement is and how much speed they have up in wide areas.
“You saw that today, they're a top team. But again, I just felt we created more than enough chances.
“I've not had a chance to look at the stats but I would have thought we were one of the highest teams to come here with xG.
“They make it difficult for you, they keep the ball well, they've got pace, their options they've got on the bench are good.”
Sam Nombe thought he had rescued a point from the penalty spot, but there was still time for Sheehan to win it for the Whites.
When asked if his players had switched off, Hamshaw replied: “No, they didn't switch off. Individual mistake.
“You can't legislate for those sometimes as a manager. I know that the player who made the mistake will be in there hurting.
“But that doesn't bring us any points back. We have to get better at that, we have to understand the risk and reward of the game.
“We were playing forward, running forward at that point to get an equaliser. Then all of a sudden, it was just a lack of judgement.”
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