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Ian Evatt says Wanderers are “light” due to injuries and insists the club are working hard to bring in more signings.
Seven members of the first-team squad were unavailable against West Brom on Saturday afternoon as the Whites kicked off their pre-season schedule with a 2-1 victory at St George’s Park.
Scott Arfield’s arrival from MLS club Charlotte was confirmed on Friday evening but it was too soon for the experienced midfielder to play a part against the Baggies.
“We are light,” Evatt said after the final whistle. “We are working very hard to bring more players in. Scotty joined yesterday, which is great and will add to us, and myself and Chris (Markham) are working hard all the time on the recruitment front.
“But we've evolved and changed on this journey. I think we've done really well in recent years in the free transfer market and the loan market but we're now moving on to buying players to improve our 11.
“When you're looking to buy players, predominantly these players are very good players at their parent club so they don't want to lose them, or they hang on to them, and negotiations are sometimes drawn out and difficult.
“We’re just trying to be patient. Normally we return for pre-season and the majority of the squad is finalised. That's not the case this year, so we just need to be more fluid.
“There's lots of hard work going on behind the scenes but come the first game of the season, hopefully those bodies will be in and we'll be ready.”
Kyle Dempsey and Aaron Collins got on the scoresheet either side of half time against West Brom.
Klaidi Lolos made his first appearance in a Bolton shirt after joining from Crawley, while George Johnston returned to the pitch 12 months on from suffering a serious knee injury at Bamber Bridge.
“It was a really challenging test with lots of technical detail from them and us playing a slightly different way with a slightly different shape,” Evatt added.
“I thought it was a really good game for so early on in pre-season. It was end-to-end, there was lots of action and I think we probably had the better chances.
“It was great for the players to win. Winning is a habit. I know it's pre-season and doesn't really make a great deal of difference, but to start off with a win is important and there's lots to work from, build on and improve on.
“But our attitude was fantastic. We had a lot of chances in the second half and it's great that Collo managed to take one to find the winner.
“It’s a good start and gives us a platform to improve and as I've said, my main thing for the whole summer is how do we get better?
“We're not going to make any claims about what we need to do, or how we need to do it, or where we need to finish, it's just about improving and getting better and if we can get better, it gives us a great chance and that was a good start.”
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