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Ian Evatt sent a handful of his players off for international duty with a message: Stay fit and get prepared for Wigan Athletic!
James Trafford and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson meet up with England and Iceland, respectively, but there is doubt over Amadou Bakayoko’s ability to play for Sierra Leone after Saturday’s goal hero picked up a calf injury at Crewe.
With a 14-day break between fixtures, Evatt and the rest of his squad will be given ample opportunity to rest-up for a run of seven games in which the Whites can barely afford to drop a point if they want to sustain a push for a play-off spot.
“We’ve got seven cup finals to go and obviously a huge one at Wigan when we return from the international break,” said the Bolton boss, who will take charge of his 100th match when his team returns to action at the DW Stadium.
“We hope and wish our lads all the best and well over the international break.
“I think, to be honest, Baka hurt his calf when he came on so whether he will travel or not, I don’t know. That is a bit of a worry at the moment.
“But other than that we wish them well and just come back in one piece. We will prepare properly for Wigan as we always do and give it our best shot.”
International call-ups meant Wanderers were forced to switch their home game against Portsmouth to April 5, sandwiched in between meetings with high flyers Wigan and Sheffield Wednesday.
Evatt is hopeful Trafford, Bodvarsson and potentially Bakayoko can avoid any injuries.
“I have not had this so far in my career so it’s something new,” he said. “Some sleepless nights!
“I have packed them off with some cotton wool so hopefully they will wrap themselves up in it and come back in one piece.”
Victory at Crewe will not go down as one of the more aesthetically pleasing of Evatt’s 45 in charge of Bolton thus far.
A poor playing surface and windy conditions meant Wanderers were pushed into playing a more direct and robust style.
But they snatched a deserved win in second half stoppage time thanks to a neat finish from Bakayoko, to leave their manager purring.
“This has been our Kryptonite all season if you go back to Fleetwood and Burton, this is probably worse than Burton’s pitch to be honest,” he said.
“But today we didn’t really look like conceding, we looked more solid and we played in better areas. We learnt our lesson in the second half and I thought we deserved to win the game.”
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