League One manager sent off after squaring up to rival player in heated post-match exchange

Bolton manager Ian Evatt was given a red card after he squared up to Shrewsubry’s Morgan Feeney at full-time as tempers boiled over at full-time at the Toughsheet Community Stadium

Bolton manager Ian Evatt was shown a red card after squaring up to a rival player after his side were held by Shrewsbury.

The Trotters shared the spoils with Shrewsbury in a four-goal encounter but at full-time tempers flared with Evatt in the midst of speaking to the referee, who had played 60 seconds fewer than the allotted eight minutes of added time before blowing the final whistle.

Shrewsbury’s Morgan Feeney appeared to wander past and have a word in Evatt’s ear, which caused the Bolton boss to see red. He pushed the defender away before going on to put his head against the 25-year-old’s as they squared up.

Evatt was left stunned as he walked away in disgust after being given his marching orders. It also meant that, as per EFL rules, the Bolton boss was unable to speak to the media following his sending off meaning he couldn’t be quizzed on the incident.

Bolton assistant Pete Atherton conducted post-match duties, where he gave his take on the disagreement between Evatt and Feeney – claiming the latter should have also seen red.

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.”

Pressed as to whether Evatt made contact with Feeney, Atherton stated: “I obviously can’t comment on that because I haven’t seen that footage.”

Bolton had found themselves 2-0 down on their own patch before a second-half fightback. Goals from Kyle Dempsey and Szabolcs Schön had them level just after the hour mark, but they were unable to find a winner, leaving them 13th in League One.

The Bolton assistant said: “In the first half we didn’t get to the levels we expected after the two good away wins in the league. We didn’t just give them one leg up, we gave them two.

“But the response in the second half was excellent. We had 30 minutes to try and get the winner. We huffed and puffed, created a couple of chances and their keeper made a couple of good saves but we couldn’t get the winner.”

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