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Ian Evatt insists the Wanderers side he picks to take on his former club Barrow in the Carabao Cup will be well equipped to avoid any upsets.
The Bolton boss wants to keep momentum up after the weekend’s win against Lincoln City and though rotation is expecting in his starting XI, he refused to confirm to what degree.
The likes of Zac Ashworth, Dan Nlundulu and Joel Coleman are likely to feature, although Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Eoin Toal are being kept back for the time being, despite recently returning to full training.
Evatt is very keen to side-step the proverbial banana skin at home but believes his players are in the right frame of mind.
“I have a strong belief that the players will have the right energy and attitude because it is the culture we have built here,” he said. “And when they play with the right intensity and attitude then they are a difficult team to stop. I’m hopeful we can do that against Barrow.
“The players know that this is a game which is close to my heart and that I’d like to win. Hopefully they can replicate that now and give a good account of themselves.
“All I can say is that we are taking the game extremely seriously. We want to win so I will pick a team that I think is good enough to do it. I am not going to say I’m making changes, or that I’m not, you’ll have to wait and see.
“We take every competition very seriously and I want to progress.”
Barrow made a winning start to the season on Saturday and showed in the EFL Trophy last season that they are far from a pushover under former Oldham and Hailfax boss Pete Wild.
“It was a good win for them away at Tranmere on Saturday and they have done really well under Pete,” he said. “He is charismatic, he is high energy and intense, and I think his team plays like that too. Often you see teams replicate the character of their manager and Barrow are very much like that.
“His team play high tempo and we will have to manage that, and we know we will have to be good from set plays too. They have a long throw, so we have to deal with all of it and also play the way we want, our style and ideas, and hopefully that is enough to win the game. But it will be a difficult challenge.”
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