Ian Evatt took Aaron Morley off at half-time of Bolton Wanderers' loss to MK Dons due to the midfielder being on a booking and needing more attacking players on the pitch.
Mo Eisa put the hosts ahead in a first half where for most of it, Wanderers were second best in the encounter.
Amadou Bakayoko struck the bar with a powerful header from Declan John's corner before the break, before skipper Ricardo Santos headed over from another delivery in the second half as Bolton improved and sought to equalise.
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But the hosts got their second goal when James Trafford's pass out from the back was pounced upon by Kaine Kesler Hayden and Scott Twine's deflected effort went in, as Wanderers now sit seven points from the play-off places.
Evatt took Morley off at the break and put Dapo Afolayan on in his place as Wanderers improved after the break.
The January transfer window signing was booked in the first half and Evatt did not want to risk the prospect of losing Morley to a second yellow card as one of the big factors behind making the chance.
Evatt feels that Wanderers ought to have scored with Bakayoko's chance before the break, but accepted that goalkeeper Jamie Cumming made a good stop as he felt Wanderers were the architects of their own downfall.
He also believes that the match officials' performance was 'not up to scratch' as the Bolton boss alleged that match referee Sebastian Stockbridge made comments during the game which the Wanderers camp deem as 'not acceptable' in terms of their nature as Evatt suggested the complaints could be reported and taken further to the appropriate channels.
Evatt said: “Aaron was on a yellow card and MK are just full of runners and energy and we just needed to make sure we were combative in the middle of the pitch and when you’re on a yellow card, that becomes difficult.
"We felt we needed some more attacking prowess to pick up better pockets of space and have someone dribbling and driving at their defence and we did that better second half. I think we all felt we were on the ascendancy and then we self-destructed but that’s the reason for it.
“We should score but I think it’s a good save, but we’ve caused our own downfall today. MK are doing really well and I think they’re a really good team with a bright young manager but I think we’re disappointed with the manner of the defeat today.
“There’s things that have happened and there’s things that have been said by the match official, by the referee, which will be reported.
"The fourth official has heard it and I thought the general performance wasn’t up to scratch so we’ll follow the right channels and we’ll make the right complaints and we’ll go from there.”
