Steven Schumacher praised the spirit of his Wanderers squad for battling back from 2-0 down again – but admitted that the main feeling was ultimately frustration not to leave Rotherham with all three points.
The Whites had a mountain to climb after a quickfire double from Sam Nombe before the break at the New York Stadium.
Chris Forino and Sam Dalby got Bolton back on level terms but they couldn’t quite find another late winner, with Ted Cann making a series of impressive saves.
“I’ve said it loads of times this season, we've got to be more clinical with the opportunities that we get. So I feel as though it's two points dropped,” said Schumacher.
“The two goals that we conceded were poor,” the head coach added. “The (second) one when we're on the attack and we don't secure the ball in the centre of the pitch, we give the ball away and we get done on a counter-attack.
“It was a great pass from their lad but that was the most disappointing thing - from virtually nothing on our goal they're 2-0 up so we go in with loads of work to do.
“We should have been ahead, though. Corey's got to score or pass it across for Dalbs. It's a good save from the keeper but we should be ahead.”
Moments before the opener, Paul Walsh in the Bolton dugout was shown a red card after he was judged to have pushed the ball away from Joe Rafferty, who was also booked for his reaction.
When asked about the incident, Schumacher replied: “Walshy just knocked the ball out the way when Rafferty came to try and get it.
“I don't know what happened but he kicked the bottles. Red card and a yellow card, I don't know. But from that throw in, I don’t think that had anything to do with it.
“We just didn't defend the cross well enough, didn't stop the cross coming into the box, didn't deal with it on the back post and the ball fell to Nombe, who always scores against us.”
The result saw Wanderers miss an opportunity to put pressure on Cardiff ahead of their clash with Exeter later in the day.
“We know we can't afford to drop points,” said Schumacher. “Again, we've played so well, we've had so many chances, their keeper’s made some brilliant saves and the ball's just not bouncing in the box for us. But also there was a lack of composure as well on a couple of the finishes.
“So credit to the players again, good spirit coming back from 2-0 down. I keep saying it, they never know when they’re beat. But I'm gutted that we haven't won a game that we’ve been well the better team in, again.”
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