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Ian Evatt has his fingers crossed that there will be no lasting damage for keeper James Trafford after he pulled up injured late in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Charlton Athletic.
The Manchester City keeper, on loan from the Etihad, was treated for a few minutes deep into the second half but played on to the end with no signs of serious injury.
Evatt had not named a reserve keeper on the bench – and the Bolton boss is hopeful that Trafford can rest up this week before a game at Cheltenham Town next weekend.
“I don’t tend to have goalkeepers on the bench because I don’t like them, I like to have more attacking options,” he explained. “It is a huge risk and I have been pummelled for it for two years, but it is just the way I see the game that an extra opportunity to have a forward player will probably win you more than we lose in terms of having to replace the goalkeeper.
“Although I did have my heart in my mouth when James went down injured, but hopefully it is not too bad.”
There was no place in the squad for Liverpool loanee Owen Beck, with Evatt explaining that the Wales Under-21 international will need more time to get into match shape.
“Owen has only been with us for a couple of days now and physically we need to get him up to speed,” he explained. “We have a bit of a fitness test we do with all of our players to get a good guide as to where they’re at and Owen is slightly behind where we need him at the moment.
“It’s still very early days and he’s got the whole season and we’ll work with him to get him up to speed and I think he’s going to be a huge player for us this season.
“But, for now, if we threw him into the deep end too soon, we could break him or he’s not ready to do himself justice so we need to give him a bit of patience like we’ve done with Eoin Toal, like we’ve done with Jon Bodvarsson when he first came, just kid gloves really for the first week or two just to get him up to speed.”
Despite putting three past Charlton, Evatt was left feeling his side could have scored more on the day.
None of Bolton’s eight league goals this season have been scored by their strikers but the Whites boss remains convinced it will prove only a minor blip.
“We have supported them, positive reinforcement with our messaging and they’ve just gained in confidence and belief. They’re doing a lot right and to create those chances, that’s the hardest part.
“We just need to stay cool, calm and collected when we’re finishing them. Today we did that three times but I still think there’s loads more to come.”
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