Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt believes his goalkeeper Joel Dixon will have to take on board any criticism received, after his mistake saw his side crash out of the Papa John's Trophy at the hands of Hartlepool United.

The error came just six minutes from time and led directly to Matty Daly's goal , which was enough for a Pools side which had made eight changes from their previous League Two outing. The defeat sees Wanderers' poor run of recent form continue, with just one win in their previous six matches.

Evatt has full belief that his shot-stopper will recover from this mistake, but understands the frustration regarding it by the supporters who travelled to Victoria Park.

“He’s going to be criticised, I’m going to be criticised, the players are going to be criticised," Evatt said, as quoted by The Bolton News. 

“He has to bounce back and he will, but when you make mistakes in high profile sport and elite sport, you have acknowledge them, learn from them and take them on the chin.”

The Whites boss has also revealed that there were words exchanged after the final whistle, after another error cost his side despite playing well for a number of periods.

“Yeah absolutely and rightly so because there’s no way we should have lost that game,” he said. “We’ve just shot ourselves in the foot once again. We need to be better, we need to improve quickly.”

“We just have to be more clinical and ruthless in the final third and then not shoot ourselves in the foot like we did in the last 10 minutes.”

The Verdict

It once again proved to be a similar story for Bolton, as a costly mistake has lost them the game. Evatt has done the right thing and backed his goalkeeper to take the criticism on the chin, but there is an expectancy amongst the Wanderers fanbase that this squad should be performing above the levels shown in recent matches, despite a three-week gap between recent fixtures through COVID postponements.