Ian Evatt watched Bolton climb six places to 13th with a 1-0 Sky Bet League Two win over Stevenage but admitted: “We made hard work of it.”

On-loan Swansea defender Declan John marked his first start for his latest club with a seventh-minute winner, his previous senior goals having come for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.

But MJ Williams’ 77th-minute dismissal by referee Trevor Kettle for a foul on Tom Pett left Wanderers scrambling to prevent a Stevenage equaliser.

“We got ourselves 1-0 up with a great goal and were controlling the game and causing them problems,” said manager Evatt.

“But because it was easy we came off it. When the score remains at 1-0 anything can happen, especially in this league.”

Bolton dropped two points against Morecambe five days earlier after Marcus Maddison was red-carded with Evatt’s side again 1-0 up.

“We have to put the game to bed,” he said. “We have to get to two and three and be relentless. Then you can back off.

“Then if the ref makes a mistake or sends off one of our players, it’s 3-1 or 4-1. Not 1-0.

“In the first half, it looked to me, if we had wanted to, we could have gone through some gears. But we were happy to stay in second gear.

“We cannot have that attitude if we want to get to where we want to be.

“Get it to 2-0 or 3-0, then if you want to showboat, showboat. But do it in the right areas and not at 1-0 where anything can happen, as we have seen in the last few weeks.”

Kettle has now sent off five Bolton players in six games and Evatt said: “It looked to me that he got the red card out very quickly instead of giving himself time.

“In real time it looked like MJ got the ball and his momentum took him into the player.

“I asked their player when he came off, said it was a little late but not much in it.”

On John’s goal, Evatt added: “He has got quality, he has got ability, he just needs to be fitter.”

Stevenage manager Alex Revell said: “We definitely deserved a point.

“In the second half, I thought there was only one team that was driving forward.

“Ultimately though, the game is about both boxes. When you see a ball drop four yards out and none of our players are around it then that’s disappointing.

“It is a big lesson that when you come away you have got to take your chances. It’s a learning curve for a lot of the players.

“We had the ball in some good areas. In the first 10 minutes we had two chances that should have at least hit the target. We had 16 shots but only three on target.”

Revell offered Bolton hope they could successfully appeal Williams’ dismissal.

“Our player got some stud marks but he didn’t feel it was a red or it was that late,” he added. “Hopefully it gets rescinded, but the referee has got to make a decision in a split second.”