Touchline tempers flared after Tuesday night’s win against Burton Albion – but Ian Evatt says he bears no grudge with Brewers boss Dino Maamria.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s 98th minute winner sparked chaotic celebration around the stadium, not least in the dugout, where Bolton striker Elias Kachunga slid on his knees in front of the visiting technical area.
That prompted a melee after the final whistle between both sets of staff, which was quickly calmed down by the officials.
Asked if it things had ‘got a little tasty’ Evatt shrugged: “Yes and no. We were all extremely frustrated with how the game was going. But what I will say is, it shows massively our togetherness.
“You saw the celebrations from the bench, from the staff, from the support team, from the stands, from the players themselves. It means a great deal to us to win football matches, to us all.
“We didn’t mean any offence to them, we were just trying to celebrate with our team. If people choose to take offence to that then we will apologise and say it wasn’t meant that way. As I said, we just wanted to celebrate with our team because we work extremely hard to try to gain results for this football club.”
Maamria fanned the flames somewhat with a wry comment made after the final whistle in reference to the return game in April.
Evatt responded: “It is a long way away and we both shouldn’t surmise that we will still be in charge because we know football is a funny game and April is a long, long time away.
“What I will say is this team, this group, this club has really come together and we are fighting tooth and nail for every result.
“We will be looking forward to every challenge and going there will be no different.”
Wanderers left it late to beat both Accrington and Burton but reaction to the performance in both games has been mixed among supporters.
Evatt freely admits both he and his side have scope for improvement but to those who felt the margin of victory should have been greater, he joked: “If those people who are saying that would like to come and take my job, they are more than welcome to it.
“It is not that easy. You have to find different ways to win football matches.
“We are all working extremely hard to be the best version of ourselves.
“We are still very much a work in progress, myself included. But football is funny isn’t it?
“Everyone has opinions, everyone thinks they can do the job better than the next person. It is just the nature of football.
“As I said the other day, we are going to win and we are going to lose. But what I will say is we are going to do the best we can and give it the best shot we can to make this club successful.”
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