IAN Evatt believes not enough was done to curb Shrewsbury Town’s time-wasting tactics in last night’s 2-2 draw at the Toughsheet Stadium.

The Bolton boss felt referee Scot Oldham should have been tougher on the visitors for slowing the game down, with a total of nine minutes of stoppage time played across both halves.

Fourth official Christopher Ward put up five minutes on his board in the second half, explaining to Evatt that only ONE minute had been added for time-wasting.

Home fans regularly showed their displeasure on a frustrating night for Wanderers which almost guarantees they will need to play-offs if they are to be playing Championship football next season.

Asked about the time-wasting after the game, Evatt questioned why officials were no longer taking the same view as they had at the start of the campaign, when referee chief Howard Webb announced there would be a crackdown on the so-called “dark arts” of the game.

“I am so frustrated – I give up, you just can’t win,” he said.

“From where we were at the start of the season to where we are now is night and day. And that is just not right or correct.

“I was told four minutes for the substitutes, one for the time-wasting. If that was one minute, then I give up. They were even doing it during time added on, we had the ball on the edge of their box and as soon as the five minutes were up, he blows the whistle.

“It is such a frustration, but I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall.”

Wanderers made four changes – with fitness issues forcing them to take Ricardo Santos, Josh Sheehan and Gethin Jones out of the starting line-up. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson has also picked up a calf injury which will rule him out for the rest of the season.

Dion Charles came off the bench for his second appearance since returning from injury and Dan Nlundulu played his first football since December, having recovered from hamstring surgery.

Evatt refused to blame the changes for a disjointed performance where Bolton twice had to come from behind.

“I don’t think the players who came in were responsible, the team out there was more than capable of winning the game,” he said.

“If you look at the stats within the game, watch it back, it is one we should have won. I think we just conceded two really poor goals. The first was in transition, we speak about that a lot because most of the teams that come here, that is their gameplan, to counter-attack fast and hit on set plays. In fact we showed the players that exact corner, they had used it before. It is a good strike to the lad, fair play to him, but it was a bad time for us as we’d just got the equaliser.

“It isn’t just the goals conceded, it is the missed chances too. And that chance just after half time for Nat (Ogbeta) changed the whole feeling.

“It is frustrating, disappointing, but we have to take this next two games now to get everyone ready. We need the ones who are struggling with injuries – Ricardo Santos, Gethin Jones, Josh Sheehan – we need them at full speed. We need to get Dion some game time because he looked a little rusty out there, which is understandable. With Jon’s injury, we will need him.

“The plan now is to win the next two and get ready for the play-off campaign.”