IAN Evatt said he was proud of the way Wanderers clung on to a point with 10 men after Ricardo Santos’s red card at Port Vale.

The Bolton boss said the decision to give a second yellow card to his captain was “astonishing” but declined to go into detail on his own red card – issued at the half time break – other than to say the club will be making their representation to the authorities.

Amadou Bakayoko also appeared to have a legitimate goal chalked off by the officials in the first half but Evatt said the way they responded to the setbacks was hugely encouraging.

“I’m so proud of my team,” he said. “We had 10 men for the best part of an hour in this heat, absolutely outstanding.

“It speaks volumes that their keeper has got man of the match and we’ve had 10 men for an hour in scorching conditions. I’m super proud of how we went about things.

“We are a good football team and we are open, we are expansive, we are attacking, we cause teams problems, but I am more proud of that today than I was Salford on Tuesday or Wycombe on Saturday because when you are that type of team, you get labelled a soft touch and you get labelled soft and flaky but there was none of that today.

“If this team starts fighting like that the rest of the league has got problems, simple as that.”

On Santos’s red card, given for a second yellow card, and his own, Evatt said the decision had been made by fourth official Hristo Karaivanov.

He added: “I don’t really want to speak too much about what happened in the tunnel because we will be making a report to the FA and PGMOL. Rico’s is, honestly, we’ve all seen it back and it’s absolutely astonishing.

“It just baffles me that we can be on the end of that much of a poor decision. To be honest, it was the fourth official that gave it and this is what really infuriates me because it’s the inconsistencies of when fourth officials get involved and when they don’t.

“If you are not sure, knowing that Rico’s already on a yellow card, you cannot make that decision. It’s so incorrect, it is just wrong and we’ve all seen it, we all know it’s wrong, but I’d rather not speak about that anymore to be honest and just speak about how satisfied and happy I am and proud of my team.”

Wanderers ensured their unbeaten start to the season in League One continued and, says Evatt, shows that they have the right attitude to be a success.

“I am delighted for them – how couldn’t you see the resilience?

“When you are an in-possession team, an attacking team, you get labelled outomatically soft and flaky. This group of players are not that. And if they start fighting and grinding out results like that then they are going to be a really difficult team to beat.

“This team doesn’t lose very often. That’s three since Wigan in the January. We are all of a sudden a difficult side to beat and I am gutted because it is a game I think we could and should have won – but it was out of our hands in the end.”

Wanderers made four substitutions in the second half and Evatt says he has no new injury issues as his side move on to Tuesday night’s home game against Morecambe.

“Just tiredness,” he said. “Real fatigue. We still probably had the better chances other than Traff’s brilliant save in the second half. Their keeper made one and we have had some good opportunities in transition and counter-attack.”