IAN Evatt says he will take criticism for a doubly disappointing week at Wanderers on the chin.

The Bolton boss was seen to react to some comments as he walked back into the dressing room at half time during his side’s 1-0 defeat at Forest Green on Saturday.

Connor Wickham had given the home side a 32nd minute lead at the New Lawn, underlining what had been a poor Wanderers performance to that stage.

Evatt said the negative reaction from more than 1,000 travelling supporters lining the touchline was expected, but that some of the abuse did cross the line.

“I understand their frustrations, but when some of it overspills and it becomes personal and abusive, I take offence to that. We all deserved to be booed off at half-time, I have no qualms with that because the way I felt, I wanted to boo with them,” he told The Bolton News.

“But when it overspills a little bit, I know it’s an emotional game and I know we all want to win, me more than most.

“I am more than happy to take criticism when we deserve it and we deserve it today. Definitely at half-time, maybe not so much with the second half, but when it overspills it is not too nice.

“But I have no issues with the fans, the fans have been magnificent with me, with us, they have supported us. There was a massive crowd at Forest Green and they just want to see us win, we all want that and we all want to win.

“We are all big enough, old enough, ugly enough now to take that on the chin, we will do, and we’ll strive to improve and come back even better and stronger for the next home fixture.”

Wanderers have taken a backward step after what had been an encouraging start - and their best start since the Sam Allardyce era. And though they remain sixth in the table, form and a lack of goals scored away from home has become a major concern among supporters.

Evatt has been taken aback by the quick turnaround in fortune but believes he can correct the downturn on the training ground this week as his side build towards a home game with Barnsley, currently one place above them in the table.

“That’s football isn’t it? We have the best start for a Bolton team in years and then two games later, we’re getting booed off at half-time!” he said. “That’s just footy and it’s a crazy game sometimes, but I have to say that we’ve been disappointing these last two games.

“I saw a real positive reaction second half and all that was lacking was the goals, but it’s amazing how hard it is to build up confidence but how quickly it seeps away from you and I think now we’ve just got to close the door a little bit, get back to Lostock, work really hard on improving on all aspects of our game and make sure we’re ready for Barnsley on Saturday.”