The Whites lost their third-round tie 5-1 with Mikel Arteta’s side extending their unbeaten start to the season with what was a simple win. Evatt was happy with his side's efforts despite the loss and said it was more about work rate than getting a result.
“It's probably as tough as it gets. Certainly, in this country it's as tough a game as you can have. It's hard to criticise the players because they've absolutely run their socks off and you need to against that team,” said the Wanderers’ boss after hopes of a shock and a place in the last-16 for the first time since 2012 were ended.
“We spoke this morning and yesterday about making them earn it, making them work hard for their goals and they are more than capable of it because they have some fantastic players. But a couple of the goals we conceded were self-inflicted which is disappointing."
Evatt explained that his side should have been more ruthless and taken their chances which could have turned the tie on its head.
“I thought he should have had a penalty for sure. Whether that would have made them angry or not I don't know but also they didn't create a great deal (in the first half) and the two real chances they had they scored both.
“We had a couple of big chances, Scotty didn't hit the target and Macca didn't hit the target, and they are the fine margins against the best. If you don't score you get punished.
“We can be pleased that we created moments but the goals were self-inflicted and made it really difficult for us. I thought 5-1 was probably harsh. I thought it was a tighter game than that at times but this is as tough as it gets and there's a huge gap between us and where they are right now.”
Games such as this are great for clubs like Bolton in various ways with Evatt explaining that the result does not matter as long as his team worked hard.
“It was largely an enjoyable experience, but I've said to the players it's gone, it's finished. We have to now focus on Saturday and getting a result at Crawley.
“We earned this cup tie. It was great for the club, financially great for the club, and great for the fans to come to a big stadium and a big team again.
“But this is done and we have to focus on building on what was an excellent result and performance against Reading on Saturday and we have to take that into Crawley now.”