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Kyle Dempsey is ready to play through the pain against Reading tomorrow.
The midfielder was hampered by a muscular problem in his back before the international break and sat out the EFL Trophy win against Salford City.
Ian Evatt says the injury will be monitored in the build-up but he expects the in-form Dempsey to play a part against the Royals as Wanderers try to return to the top of the table.
“He is OK to play, we think, it has settled a lot from where it was – there is one specific movement which seems to trigger the pain so we are trying to manage that the best we can,” he told The Bolton News.
“The large amount of the work he is doing is pain-free, which is an improvement on where he was prior to the international break but it is just about managing his workload and making sure the back fully recovers.”
Dempsey has been ever-present in the league so far this season and Evatt admits it would take a major issue for him to withdraw from a squad.
He added: “The day before we played Derby we had a simple five-a-side and the back end of training he slipped and fell right into Victor (Adeboyejo)’s leg – which is probably the worst limb you could possibly fall into – and smashed his nose. It was pouring with blood but Demps just got up, wiped his nose and cracked on. That is the way he does it.
“He doesn’t want to miss football matches and it would take an awful lot for him to be pulled out of the team.”
The international break has thrown up some complications for Evatt and Wanderers, not least the condition of defender Eoin Toal and striker Dion Charles, who travelled with Northern Ireland to Slovenia and Kazakhstan.
“I have got nothing but respect for Northern Ireland because I did a lot of my coaching work out there and it is a wonderful footballing country, a proud state,” he said. “But every country has its financial obligations and I they didn’t have a private plane to Kazakhstan, which isn’t the easiest place to get to.
“When you are flying commercially it can take a long time and I think there was an eight-hour flight to Frankfurt, a six-hour wait, then the flight back to Manchester.
“Whether we like it or not, it will take a toll. They wanted to represent their country and Dion played a half and nine minutes, Eoin didn’t get on at all, which was unfortunate but hopefully he will get a chance sooner rather than later.
“It is not great when they have so much travelling before a big game.
“The international break has freshed up the majority of the squad but players like that have some significant travelling, so they are not fresh and we have to adjust things accordingly.
“That means you are separating the group according to workload, so it becomes more challenging and we can’t do the preparation work that we would like to do.”
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