WANDERERS assistant manager Pete Atherton has given his view on Ian Evatt’s red card after the final whistle in today’s 2-2 home draw with Shrewsbury Town.

The Bolton boss was handed a straight red by referee Declan Bourne after a face-to-face altercation with visiting defender Morgan Feeney.

Evatt had been asking the official why more time was not added on to the eight minutes shown by the fourth official, with stoppage time itself also containing a delay in play.

Atherton spoke to the local press as EFL rules prevent a manager from doing so if they have been sent-off.

He said: “The gaffer went over to the ref and asked why there wasn’t time added on to the time added, if you will. They talked about that and one of their players has started to get involved, they had words, the ref gave the gaffer a red and their player a yellow, so I am not quite sure why there is a red for one and a yellow for the other. It was nothing that he said to the referee.

“We got no explanation yet – the club secretary will go in and get the details but obviously there is a time limit before they can ask those questions. We will wait and see."

Asked if there was contact with Feeney, Atherton added: “I obviously can’t comment on that because I haven’t seen that footage.”

Wanderers found themselves two down at half time, poor defending allowing Jordan Feeney and Jordan Shipley to give the second-bottom Shrews an unexpected lead.

Kyle Dempsey and Szabi Schon got Bolton level by 61 minutes but they were unable to find a third goal, which would have given them a fourth straight win in the league.

Atherton said: “It was a game of two halves, unfortunately first half we didn’t get the levels we expected off the back of the two good away wins we’d had in the league. We expected to be stronger and to start on the front foot.

“Shrewsbury in their position, we knew they were going to be scrapping and fighting. We didn’t just give them one leg up, we gave them two. We were disappointed with the second one because we’d spoken about that and we’d conceded a similar one last time. We’d put it in the players’ minds but unfortunately they didn’t recognise it quickly enough and deal with it.

“Going in 2-0 at half time was very disappointing but, that said, we got the early goal we needed after half time, got the second, and I’m a bit disappointed because we had 30 minutes to go and get a winner. We huffed and puffed, had a few chances, keeper made a few good saves, but we couldn’t find the winner.”

Wanderers were markedly better after half time, which was the only encouraging thing Atherton believes could be taken from the afternoon.

“That was a positive in terms of taking the game to them and continuing the momentum but then you need that little bit of quality and intelligent play to get the final finish and the winner.

“It is never dull at Bolton, especially on the bench, but it is definitely two points dropped, particularly after the good results we have had.”