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Ian Evatt reckons the international break arrives at the perfect time for his weary Wanderers to regroup.
The Bolton boss said his players looked “devoid of energy” in the 3-1 defeat against Carlisle United, which came after back-to-back wins against Port Vale and Stevenage in the previous week.
Ricardo Santos, Gethin Jones, Carlos Mendes-Gomes and Paris Maghoma were missing from the squad through injury and suspension, while Dion Charles and Kyle Dempsey have both been carrying injuries.
Carlisle also played a midweek game at home to Peterborough United – and named an unchanged side to start the game at the Toughsheet Stadium.
The Whites do not play again until October 21 when they host Northampton Town and Evatt welcomes the chance to gather his thoughts and bring players back into contention.
“Some of them need a break, they need a few days off. It has been a really tough few weeks,” he said.
“We have had Dion’s shoulder being patched up, Kyle’s back being patched up, people carrying knocks, niggles, we have had suspensions and an awful lot of injuries.
“But all of those we are starting to get over now. All week we have been saying it is going to be tough to pick them up after two really physical games and we just didn’t perform to our level.
“We under-performed with too many errors, too many individuals, we will look at that, regroup and try to be better.”
After Wanderers had opened the scoring with a Jon Mellish own goal, Joel Garner had a penalty saved by Nathan Baxter. Jordan Gibson then levelled the game from the spot after referee Seb Stocksbridge gave a handball against Eoin Toal.
Evatt complained that neither penalty should have been given, and gave Carlisle a route into he game.
He said: “I’m not surprised by how Carlisle approached that game, not in the slightest. The disappointment, for me, when you get the first goal against that sort of team is that you have to make it pay. You can’t give the opposition anything.
“Now, I don’t know what your view is of either penalty – but the first one, definitely not, second one has clearly hit his hand but what is he supposed to do? He is trying to head the ball, he can’t do it with his hands by his side.
“The guy is offside that forces him to head it in the first place. Neither are penalties and, to be fair, they have changed the game.
“Second half we had the big chance with Dion at the far post but for some reason nothing went our way. We will take the heat, as we always do, strive to be better and improve.
“But this break has come at a really key time for us. All is not lost, we’re still in a decent position, we have still got that extra game, we’re in the top six and two points under our target of two points per game.
“We have to make that up and our focus has to be on beating Northampton here when we return.”
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