The Pilgrims struggled to create any real chances of note until Kornel Szucs nodded over five minutes from time.

The result leaves Cleverley still waiting for his first points as Plymouth boss after taking charge in the summer.

“After what I thought was a decent start, the first 10-15 minutes, we again didn’t respond to the opposition landing the first blow and that knocked us out of our rhythm,” the head coach assessed.

“I thought the next 40 minutes of the game we were there, we were in it without really having any cutting edge.

“Now I have to look at the balance of the team for that, are we committing enough bodies forward and we also need to really work hard in the market.”

The opening stages had been tight but Bolton never really looked back after Eoin Toal’s opener from a corner.

“They showed more quality in the second half, much more quality,” Cleverley added. “I thought last week we took a backward step when the game got a bit turbulent, mistakes don’t help with that, we shied away. 

“I can’t say we shied away from it today, but we certainly didn’t take a forward step to impose ourselves on the game.

“We mixed it, it was a very balanced game and then in times in the second half they just showed a lot more quality than us.”

Plymouth were without several players due to injury and Cleverley says they are working hard to get more bodies through the door.

“I think one positive to come out of today is the performance of some of our substitutes,” he reflected.

“We both lost last weekend and Steven had the luxury of being able to make five changes. Our squad is too thin for that, I could only make one change. 

“But I thought our substitutes today made that more of a headache now. We will keep those who started today on their toes because that is a bit of healthy competition we needed.

“I thought young Tegan [Finn] did great when he came on. Brendan Wiredu showed real personality after what has been a turbulent week for him. 

“So if there are any positives to take out of today, it was probably the performances of some of our substitutes.”