Ian Evatt reckons the mental side of the game let Wanderers down as they dropped points at Cambridge.

The Bolton chief insists that his side must use their experience to see out games in those situations.

“For me, it is just a mental thing. All of our issues are psychological, I think, we have to manage the game better,” he reflected.

“We have got experienced players out there. We put Macca (John McAtee) and Vic (Adeboyejo) on the help defend set plays because we knew what was going to come.

“We conceded far too many, we made some terrible decisions in terms of giving fouls away rather than being patient and showing them backwards.

“We had the extra man. We didn’t need to commit unnecessary fouls because they had a big team on at the end and eventually, it is going to hurt you.”

Evatt knew it would be a tough test at the Abbey Stadium but was frustrated to give the U’s a way back into the contest after doing the “hard yards” to get in front.

“As a squad, we have got to do better,” the manager continued. “This is a very tough place to come. Historically, it has been tough for us and they have lost one game in their last seven.

“It was always going to be a tough night but we had the game in the palm of our hands. We did the hard yards, we got the goal and then started making sloppy errors.

“We conceded too many set plays and eventually because of the size of their team, we don’t defend properly and they score.”

There was frustration that Wanderers had failed to kick on after Aaron Collins’ opener, and with a man advantage, but Evatt explained the thinking behind their approach in the final half-hour.

“We got the goal. They were in a really deep block and waiting for restarts or transitions to hurt us,” he said. “We had the game won, we just had to manage it out.

“But we gave away far too many transitions and set plays, which allowed them to create what they did. That was crowd noise and pressure for the last five or six minutes, and we didn’t deal with it.”

The Whites were minutes away from back-to-back wins as they aim to climb up the League One table.

Evatt’s men remain outside the play-off places on goal difference, although they still have a game in hand on sixth-place Barnsley.

Bolton now have a free weekend to get some valuable time on the training pitch before hosting Mansfield on Tuesday, December 3 (7.45pm).

“We will be training and preparing for Mansfield,” Evatt added. “The manner of this draw is disappointing, we expected to come here and win.

“We had the chance to come here and win, we were five minutes away from doing so and that is on us. We have to see that game out better than what we did.”