Bolton Wanderers boss blames Portsmouth 'hangover' for 'self-inflicted' defeat as Derby County dealt late blow

Portsmouth have put their 4-0 loss at Blackpool at the end of last month well and truly behind them as they recorded a fourth-straight win to increase their lead at the top of the League One table to seven points on Saturday.

Pompey won 3-0 at Shrewsbury Town to make it 12 points from the last 12 on offer, while also keep a fourth-straight clean sheet. Their latest win came on a day when Bolton Wanderers, who were only three points behind them earlier in the week, lost 2-1 at home to Bristol Rovers while Derby County drew 1-1 at Pride Park with Wycombe Wanderers after a penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Stevenage also dropped points as they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Exeter City. Peterborough United and Oxford United were the only sides immediately below Pompey to claim wins as Barnsley also drew, as they were held by Charlton Athletic while Blackpool were beaten 2-1 at Cambridge United.

Evatt laments Pompey 'hangover'

Bolton boss Ian Evatt admitted there was a 'hangover' for some of his players from Monday's 2-0 defeat at Fratton Park as Wanderers were beaten 2-1 by Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon. John Marquis and Antony Evans scored for the away side as home captain Ricardo Santos was sent off. Eoin Toal's deflected goal ensured a nervy finale but Rovers held on for their first win at Bolton since 1985.

“With some players, there was hangover from Monday,” said Evatt afterwards as he referenced Monday's loss against Portsmouth.

“Rico is brilliant player and people make mistakes, but that [red card] changed everything. We had a clear, tactical idea of what we wanted to do which meant sacrificing Dion [Charles]. It was tough for him, but he understands why. You saw the fruits of that in the second half. When we got the plan right, we dominated with 10 men.

“We showed great character, great courage and energy; a lot of which was missing in the first half. But just as we made the change, we conceded an awful second goal and that left us with a mountain to climb. That was really the end of the bad stuff and had we scored 10 minutes earlier I believe we would have got something out of the game.”

He added: “If we win our game in hand we are still second. We are going to have highs and lows, and this week has been a low. So, we need to manage the emotion and keep everyone calm and focused.”

Warne rues 'poor decisions' in late defeat

Derby were dealt a late blow as Luke Leahy's last-gasp penalty earned Wycombe a 1-1 draw at Pride Park. Tom Barkhuizen had put Derby ahead and the Rams looked on course for all three points until David Wheeler was brought down by Joe Ward's challenge in the penalty area as Leahy converted from 12 yards with the final kick.

Warne reflected: “That was tough to take. Our first-half performance we didn’t deserve any more than we got. I was disappointed with how we played, we had no ball speed, we didn’t have any assertiveness in the game.

“We had a bit more purpose second half and possibly did enough to win it. We weren’t at our best today and if you can win when you’re not at your best then great but there was a catastrophe of errors in the last 30 seconds which cost us two points.

“With five minutes to go we are still trying to cross the ball and get a second goal when you can just keep it, just win throw-ins and let the clock burn out. I just thought that for an experienced team we made some poor decisions late on.”