'Rules are wrong' - Ian Evatt's claim about Portsmouth's 'offside' goal vs Bolton Wanderers

Ian Evatt felt there was a hint of offside for Portsmouth's goal against Bolton Wanderers and that Pompey players influenced his side's decision making in that key moment which led to the Whites going behind.

Aiden O'Brien put Pompey ahead early in the second half, after Dapo Afolayan had gone closest to breaking the deadlock before half-time and forced a good save from Portsmouth goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

But Wanderers responded to going behind with Elias Kachunga coming off the bench to win a penalty and Kieran Sadlier fired home to earn Bolton a share of the spoils.

READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Portsmouth - Kieran Sadlier & Elias Kachunga good

The point and results elsewhere on the night in League One means Wanderers sit 12 points from the play-offs with five games of their season left and any aspirations they had of reaching the play-offs this season are now effectively over.

But Wanderers boss Evatt believes there was a question mark over the free-kick taken by Michael Jacobs where Pompey players appeared to be in an offside position, Wanderers half cleared and the goal led on from that.

Evatt felt the the Pompey player who was in an offside position when the set piece was taken affected the decision making and led to the poor clearance and subsequently going behind.

And the Bolton boss believes the rules in this area perhaps need to be looked at going forwards.

He said: “I completely understand what the officials are saying because the rules are the rules, but the rules are wrong. I was a defender, I was a centre back, and you’re aware of people in offside positions and what it does do is it affects your decision and even if they don’t make a play at the ball, you know they’re there and you’re