Ian Evatt reflects on Bolton Wanderers' agonising penalty shoot-out defeat at Wigan Athletic

The Latics players enjoy that winning feeling against local rivals Bolton

A thoroughly absorbing encounter - enjoyed by a raucous crowd of almost 12,000 inside the DW - went all the way to dreaded spot-kicks.

And although Jordan Jones missed for Wigan, Kieran Lee did likewise for Bolton - before Nathan Delfouneso blazed his effort over the top to send the home side through.

“We gave it our best shot," mused Evatt. “We made a lot of changes and sometimes lacked a bit of fluidity.

“We didn’t lose the game – we did on penalties – and I think we competed well.

"We’ll only know if the changes worked on Saturday, that’s the true reflection of it, really.

“We are disappointed but that is the harsh reality of football.

"We came out on the right side of a penalty shoot-out against Barnsley (in the last round) and the wrong side of one here.

“We are a club on the way back. Our fans tonight were absolutely brilliant and we are in good shape.

"This team doesn’t lose games very often, so we will go again on Saturday.

“There wasn’t much in the game, they huffed and puffed with set pieces and long balls, and we had a couple of moments of incisiveness we could have scored from.

“We didn’t, they didn’t and we lost a penalty shoot-out.”

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