Bolton Wanderers are set to appeal the red cards issued to both George Thomason and manager Ian Evatt on Saturday.
Thomason was shown a straight red card in the first half after what the referee saw as a poorly timed challenge which many Bolton fans will no doubt disagree with.
The club are now looking to appeal that decision in order to have their midfielder back at the next available opportunity. It may have been a slightly harsh decision with Wanderers manager Ian Evatt saying to BBC Radio Manchester, “I believe he got the ball, he didn’t make any contact with the player”.
That red card certainly swayed the momentum in Northampton’s favour and they were already 1-0 up having scored early on in the first half. Evatt himself was also sent off at half-time, supposedly for an incident in the tunnel which we can only assume is to do with the decision. The manager’s dismissal is also set to be appealed.
Despite going down to ten men, Bolton would fight back to earn themselves a point. Although they may have dropped points on leaders Portsmouth, given the circumstances, it was very impressive performance to earn themselves a draw.
With Derby County also drawing and Peterborough United losing, it wasn’t an awful day for the club, however had they had eleven players on the pitch, they may well have gone on to earn all three points.
They now look ahead to hosting Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night, who come into it after a shock 5-2 win against Peterborough. It does seem unlikely that the club will have Thomason back by then with such a little turnaround after Saturday’s game.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Evatt expressed his frustration with the officiating in their 1-1 draw with Northampton.
“I think it was a really poor refereeing performance. I think there’s not many people that would argue with that.
“I had a fantastic view of that at the time. I was stood next to the fourth official who, on comms, was saying ‘no red, no red’ and the referee made that call. You can manipulate the images or the different camera angles. Some make it look worse than it was.”
“There’s images of their player laughing after the incident. For me it’s a foul or a yellow card at most. It’s certainly not a red.”
“At half-time I articulated the argument clearly – there was no aggression, there was no swearing, but the tolerance level for me compared to their manager was different on the day and I got sent off.
“We’ll appeal it and see how we get on.”
Writer’s View
The decision to send Thomason off for the challenge does seem somewhat harsh and that decision certainly impacted the game. It also led to Evatt also receiving a red card, which could in turn also be overturned.
Nonetheless it was a good point for Bolton but they will be disappointed to have not taken all three, and lost some ground in the title race to Portsmouth. Plenty of positives can be taken from the game, and they’ll be looking to get back on track with a win on Tuesday night. Wycombe will pose them a serious threat if in the same mood as the one they were in against Peterborough at the weekend, but the Wanderers should have enough firepower to put three points on the board.
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