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Ian Evatt has revealed that Wanderers trio Ricardo Santos, Dapo Afolayan and Kyle Dempsey are all suffering with hamstring injuries following his side’s 1-1 draw with Portsmouth.
All three players were taken off as the Whites came from behind to earn a point thanks to Kieran Sadlier’s emphatic penalty.
Evatt admits it has been a demanding season on his squad and reckons the injuries disrupted their performance following a period of pressure on the stroke of half time.
“More concerning is the injuries really – that really disrupted our momentum second half,” he told The Bolton News.
“Rico is huge for us but Kyle and Dapo as well, three hamstring (injuries). There has to be something in that, especially following Saturday’s game.
“We will get them scanned and looked at and see where we are at.”
When asked if the trio are facing at least a couple of weeks on the sidelines, the Bolton boss added: “It looks that way and that is not ideal for anybody.
“It has been a long season and especially since January, we have played a lot of football. Rico and Dapo in particular have played a lot of football.
“Whether that is a fatigue issue, I don’t know. But we will do our research, get them looked at and see where we are at.”
Gavin Bazunu made a fine stop to deny Afolayan from close range during the first half as Wanderers were unable to make their pressure pay off.
Evatt believes his side weren’t at their best on the night but insists Danny Cowley’s men deserve some credit.
“We are disappointed with that performance to be honest,” he said. “I don’t think we were anything like we can be.
“We looked like we lacked a bit of zip, some energy, some intensity. We were a bit loose with some of our play.
“Credit to them, they surprised us changing shape and going to a back four. We just couldn’t find the solutions first half.
“We had some moments, the ‘keeper made one or two really good saves. But if you can’t win, you don’t lose - that’s important. But we are better than that.
“There are lots of things to improve on and work on. Fundamentally, we just were not good enough in possession and we didn’t recognise where the space was quick enough.
“We needed to switch the ball to our wing-backs and create space out wide and we didn’t do that well enough.
“We kept on going back into their pressure, back into the middle of the pitch. Whereas once we got the ball wide, we caused them problems and that is where the penalty came from.”
Evatt’s men are now unbeaten in their last three matches ahead of Saturday’s clash with promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday.
However, the gap to the top six is now up to 12 points with five games to go and the Bolton chief admits it “doesn’t look likely now”.
But he is pleased with the progress Wanderers have made since the start of the campaign and says it is important to have some perspective.
“There are lots of things to improve on but we are not far away,” he added.
“I am sat here really disappointed that we have just drawn 1-1 with Portsmouth and if you had said that to anybody two years ago, they would have probably snatched your hand off so we have to have some perspective.
“But we want to be better, we want to progress up this division. It doesn’t look likely now this season but we have to make sure we carry momentum into next season and finish strongly.”
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