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Ian Evatt hopes his options will be more plentiful after Christmas as his threadbare Wanderers kept up their promotion chase with victory against Exeter City.
Having seen Amadou Bakayoko withdraw from Saturday’s squad late on, the Bolton boss admitted he was down to his last available senior players to fill the bench against the Grecians.
But with confidence boosted by a 2-0 win, courtesy of goals from Conor Bradley and Dion Charles, Evatt hopes his squad will be better-stocked by the time they next take the field against Derby County on December 27.
“We’ll have to say a few prayers now,” Evatt said of his missing players.
“It is important we keep the intensity of training high because that is when we are at our best.
“We have had to back off them with the illness and injuries we have had of late, and that is why you saw the fatigue creep in second half (against Exeter).
“But hopefully we can get over the illness which has really plagued the camp over the last few weeks and then we have players returning all the time. There are no real long-term concerns other than George Thomason. Ricardo Santos is improving all the time, Gethin Jones in a couple of weeks, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson probably two weeks, Izzy (Lloyd Isgrove) getting closer.
“Things aren’t all bad but we do have to keep the rest of them in one piece.”
On Bakayoko’s absence, Evatt added: “There was an issue before the game, so we felt the need not to risk him.”
Wanderers produced a scintillating first-half performance against Exeter, described by Evatt as the “best of the season so far.”
Bradley had opened the scoring after just eight minutes, a lead then doubled by Charles with his 10th goal of the season.
Charles twice hit the post and Bradley also missed a point-blank header, which raised a smile from his manager in the post-match press conference.
“After Tuesday and today, some heading practice is definitely on the agenda,” he said. “I thought it was really good defending from Conor.”
Charles has reached 10 goals in all competitions faster than any player since Nicolas Anelka in 2007/8, surpassing Dapo Afolayan last season and Eoin Doyle the year before that.
Evatt freely admits the Northern Ireland international should have had more goals to his name.
“Everyone that said we haven’t scored enough and that we have missed too many chances, he has got to double figures today, so what could he have?” he said. “What could the team do with the amount of chances they create when we are at our fluid best?”
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