GETHIN Jones acknowledges that charges against Wanderers for failing to perform in important games are accurate.

After losing the play-off final to Oxford United, Bolton are planning their future League One campaign.

Though Ian Evatt’s team spent only four weeks outside the top four this season, their record versus their immediate promotion opponents lost them the final goal.

Without the play-offs, Bolton won only two of ten games against the top six, averaging 1.2 points per game, which was bettered by Derby County (1.4) and Portsmouth (2.2).

Concerns about the team’s ‘big game mindset’ were exacerbated by the defeat at Wembley, and vice-captain Jones believes the players can provide little defense to the evidence against them.

“We said to each other after the game, I don’t know if it is a mentality issue, but I have been here now for four years and I can think of only a few times where we have really come up with a performance when the pressure was really on,” the player told The Bolton News.

“Crawley, the Papa Johns final last year, Blackpool, Derby – these are the games you need to win, but everything else has been awful. And the criticism we’ve received is all justified; we just haven’t performed well in key games. Collectively, we must be better than that; we cannot drop so many points and expect to be promoted.”

Evatt stated after the final that there will be a time of transition this summer, although it is unclear what shape that would take.

Jones feels the nucleus of the group, which was 90 minutes away from the Championship, can recuperate and develop to do better next season.

“The most important thing is that we look at ourselves and what more we can all do, it can’t be a case of pointing fingers and blaming each other,” according to him.

“When you lose a game, people prefer to blame a certain person. We do it as players as well; we are no better.

“But, to be honest, none of us performed to our full potential (at Wembley). Every one of us has more to contribute than that, and I don’t think any of us can explain why we didn’t do it on that particular day.

“As for what changes, we will see what happens in the future.”

Jones, along with Ricardo Santos and George Thomason, has appeared in every season under Evatt, and they have all improved their league place.

Summing up his personal regret at missing out on promotion, the former Everton defender said: “This club has done everything for me, and it has provided a platform for me to continue my career.

“After joining in League Two, it was a huge desire of mine to assist this team reach League One and subsequently the Championship. To lose out on it, I am absolutely crushed; it is difficult to put into words how horrible I feel.”

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