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Wanderers welcome Conor Bradley back from suspension for Tuesday night’s clash with Burton – but Lloyd Isgrove is unlikely to feature.
Isgrove featured against Accrington at the weekend in Bradley’s absence – his first league start in the best part of a year after a lengthy injury lay-off.
The Welshman also played against Leeds Under-21s in the Papa Johns Trophy, and Ian Evatt says he needs “a couple of days to recover”.
“Obviously, Conor Bradley is back available. He is raring to go. Lloyd is feeling a bit stiff and sore in his hamstring after Saturday,” said the Bolton chief.
“We will probably give him a couple of days to recover. Two first team fixtures in a week for the first time in 10 months is obviously challenging, so we will look after him. Other than that, everyone is available.”
Isgrove has also made several appearances for the B Team in recent weeks, and Evatt plans to be cautious with the wideman.
“Izzy has done phenomenally well to do the two games he did last week,” he added.
“I know he didn’t play 90 in both games, but the intensity level compared to the B Team games he’s been playing in is night and day.
“He’s really honest. He knows his body really well and I’ve got to give him great credit because the conversations he’s having with myself and the physio department is, ‘I am feeling a little bit tight and stiff’ and then we can pull the reins on him.
“The great thing about him is he’s being honest enough to say that, because if he carried on with this feeling then potentially he could end up reinjuring himself, and that’s the last thing we want. At the moment, it is caution from both sides, which is pleasing.”
Several players made a positive impact off the bench in the win against Accrington, and Evatt’s team selections aren’t about to get any easier.
“Selecting teams is always difficult and some things work, some things don’t,” the manager explained. “What I will say is I don’t think people can become too focused on formations.
“We have an idea of what we are trying to do in possession and an idea what we try to do out of possession.
“Just because on paper it looks like 3-5-2, it doesn’t really mean to easy it is going to stay like that. In games, we can rotate and move into 4-3-3, we can change and build out with four at the back, three at the back, sometimes two.
“It doesn’t really matter about formations and people shouldn’t be concentrating on it too much.
“The most important thing is what we are trying to do in possession, our idea of how to affect the opposition and then how we are going to press against the ball, not necessarily meaning we are going to stay in that formation for 90 minutes.”
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