Home
Dion Charles could be launched back into action at Wigan Athletic tomorrow night as Wanderers look to make amends for Saturday’s sloppy defeat at Blackpool.
The Northern Ireland international is back in full training having missed the last three games with a knee injury.
Charles leads Bolton’s scoring charts on 17 in all competitions and Ian Evatt has hinted that he will be in contention for a starting place at the DW Stadium.
Wanderers will also look into an appeal against the red card Ricardo Santos picked up at Bloomfield Road in the hope their captain can also feature against the Latics.
Whilst the performance of referee Josh Smith was one of the main talking points after defeat at Blackpool, Evatt admitted that his own team needed to “take a look in the mirror” for their own part in the result.
Poor defending allowed the Seasiders to overturn an early George Thomason goal, and two gilt-edged misses by Carlos Mendes Gomes and Josh Dacres-Cogley left the manager in no doubt that a response was needed in midweek.
“All we can do now is get promoted, because no-one remembers today if we get promoted,” he said.
“If we beat Wigan on Tuesday night it kind of puts things right with the fans, so that is what we have to do. We have to get up off the canvass, as we have done many times, and put things right.
“Performance-wise, and it sounds harsh to say when you have lost 4-1, but when you create the chances we did, we have to take them. As we know, goals change games, so we only have ourselves to blame. We can look at other things, other decisions, but we have to look at ourselves, first and foremost.”
Defeat for Derby County at Barnsley and a draw for Portsmouth at Charlton ensured that minimal damage was done by Saturday’s defeat.
Evatt is confident his squad can pick themselves up quickly, however, and has challenged them to earn a first league win against Wigan in a decade as the first big step.
“We knew all along that this wasn’t going to be easy and that there would be adversity along the way,” he said. “When that happens, when your back is against the wall, you have to come out swinging and that is what we have to do at Wigan.
“We have to help ourselves, look at what we could have done much better.
“I said at half time that when we get chances like we did in the first half, we have to take them. But we have to believe we will get another chance like that.
“We absolutely had to take one of those original chances, you can’t be hitting the goalkeeper from two yards out, unopposed.
“We will look at that, and it is on us, we have to take responsibility.”
Evatt also praised goalscorer, Thomason, who came back from a three-game suspension to score against Blackpool for the second time this season.
“He was excellent, and it shows why we missed him,” the manager said.
Source