Bolton boss Ian Evatt delighted to take maximum points home from Ipswich

There were contrasting views from both managers as Bolton came away from Portman Road with a stunning 5-2 League One victory over Ipswich.

The visitors’ boss Ian Evatt said he was “delighted” with his team’s convincing victory, while Ipswich manager Paul Cook believed he suffered one his “toughest” days he has had in management.

Evatt said: “I’m pleased.

“At half-time it was end-to-end and I thought there was a lot of quality on show and it was always going to be a difficult game, but we were delighted with the performance.”

Dapo Afolayan struck in the 10th and 47th minutes, Eoin Doyle from the penalty spot after 18 minutes, Josh Sheehan two minutes into the second half and George Johnston in the 57th minute.

Ipswich opened the scoring through Macauley Bonne in the fifth minute with Ricardo Santos putting the ball into his own net after 30 minutes.

Evatt added: “We were winning at half-time but we knew there was more to come. We told them the truth that we could do better than that.

“Second half there was more intensity and more aggression and our football was breathtaking at times and I’m really happy with the result.

“When teams go toe-to-toe with us, which Ipswich do, they have some fantastic players and I think they’re going to be a really strong team this season with an excellent manager, but we have taken our chances and could have had more.”

Meanwhile, Cook said: “It was probably one of the toughest days I’ve had in management, a really difficult day, to watch a team take the lead, start brightly, look good, get the crowd on our side, even equalise, then all of a sudden we just give goals away.

“There will be no criticism towards the players from me, none. I put the team on the pitch.

“This is a very proud club and that was a very not proud performance from us today.

“There’s two ways you play football, one with the ball, and one without – unfortunately for us we are quite OK with the ball.

“We still scored goals, we are doing alright. We’ve missed a couple of chances but – without the ball – we are a million miles away from where we need to be as a team and that’s something that we have to eradicate.”