The Big Match Verdict by Marc Iles

Leyton Orient 1-2 Bolton Wanderers

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Sure, they can pass the ball and win with style and swagger at this level, but can Wanderers roll up their sleeves and take games against the grain?

Accusations of Bolton’s soft centre have followed them throughout Ian Evatt’s four years at the helm and intensified after their Wembley catastrophe against Oxford United just 12 short weeks ago.

While opposition managers and players regularly throw out lavish praise for the style of football played by the Whites, that flattery normally arrives after the team in question has frustrated the hell out of them for 90 minutes and grabbed points most would feel undeserved.

So often last season, Evatt was left talking about chances that had gone begging, games which had been controlled but domination that had gone unpunished. And many felt a lack of tactical flexibility was at the heart of the problem.

One game into the new season, one Bolton hope will end with them finally climbing out of the League One tar pit and back into the Championship after six long years away, they may have made a crucial breakthrough.

Victory was achieved at Leyton Orient not with commanding spells of possession nor with especially free-flowing attacking football. Bolton had to get their hands dirty and now appear to have the necessary players to cope with a different way of approaching the type of game this level so often throws at you.

When Jack Iredale’s slip allowed Charlie Kelman to cancel out Dion Charles’s eighth minute opener there was a sense of ‘we’ve seen this one before’ echoing around the Wanderers fanbase.

Leyton Orient are an inherently awkward team. They have physical presence, enterprising set pieces and are usually aggressive from minute one. And they had managed to strangle Bolton’s midfield to the point where they too had to play over the press and go direct.

By half time the grumbling was seismic. Pre-season had been about new formations, an experimental style of play, but the Whites were being dogged by familiar problems and struggling to make their way out of the mess.

But an unprecedented spending spree this summer has left Evatt with options he simply didn’t have last season when this sort of conundrum came his way. Instead of replacing like for like, willing his players to find a gear they simply hadn’t reached to that point, he brought on some heavy artillery in John McAtee, Jay Matete, Victor Adeboyejo, Klaidi Lolos and Jordi Osei-Tutu and was able to wrestle back momentum they had not enjoyed since Charles’s early strike.

Adeboyejo scored with nearly his first touch, reward for what had been an excellent pre-season. The Nigerian striker could consider himself unlucky not to have started ahead of Charles, given his form, but reacted in exactly the way his manager would have wanted.

That the cavalry was able to make such an impact was mainly down to the goalkeeping heroics of Nathan Baxter, who had pulled off a string of excellent saves to keep the O’s at bay, particularly down the right where Kelman had tormented Iredale and exploited space left behind the ultra-attacking Szabolcs Schön.

Baxter reserved his best save for the very end – a full-length fingertip to push Kelman’s curling shot around his post and end any debate about who would be awarded man of the match.

Some of Bolton’s second-half substitute cameos deserve a mention, however, as they maximised their time on the pitch to leave Evatt with some thinking to do ahead of Wrexham’s visit to the Toughsheet Stadium next week.

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McAtee, courted by the Welsh club and offered an eye-watering contract, stepped into one of the two supporting-striker roles effortlessly. His name had been bouncing around the away stand for a full 10 minutes before he replaced Scott Arfield and he wasted no time ingratiating himself to his new supporters, winning possession back several times deep in Orient territory.

Matete also looked a good fit. Josh Sheehan had not been given the time nor space to play his natural game so once the Sunderland loanee stepped in, his more defensive nature helped tip the scales back in Bolton’s favour.

Evatt did not have any central defenders named on the bench, Gethin Jones and Will Forrester still injured, and Chris Forino pencilled in for his debut against Mansfield in the League Cup on Tuesday night. Iredale’s struggles against Kelman needed to be addressed, however, so he improvised by bringing on Osei-Tutu as the right wing-back, moving Josh Dacres-Cogley to centre-half.

Necessity being the mother of invention, the change worked well. And given the number of jibes aimed at the Wanderers boss post play-off final, it is only right that his substitutions and tactical shifts in this 90 minutes are highlighted and celebrated.

Baxter’s refusal to concede a second time earned him the headlines, and deservedly so, yet the story of this game was also one of options. Very few sides in this division have the resources now available to Evatt and it will be a new challenge for him to keep players content. Equally, the size of his squad now makes departures almost inevitable before the close of the summer window, and a few may now question how many games they are likely to play with so much competition around.

Wanderers finished last season with a handful of their players operating way below their best, patched up to stave off injury. Bringing in seven new signings this summer seems to be a reaction, and if the club can avoid the wretched bad luck they suffered at the start of the year losing the likes of Baxter, Santos, Charles and Adeboyejo, there is every reason to believe they can compete again at the top of the table.

We wondered what fight would be left in the Whites after Wembley but on first viewing there is a renewed desire to put things right. And long may it continue.

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Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Mansfield (Wanderers win 5-4 on pens)

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Wanderers pulled off a magnificent penalty shoot-out comeback to put themselves into the second round of the Carabao Cup at Mansfield Town’s expense.

Davis Keillor-Dunn struck late on to cancel out George Thomason’s spectacular opener for the Whites and fire up a game which – in all honesty – had lacked any sense of excitement until the bitter end.

Bolton looked to have fluffed their chance in the shoot-out too, Thomason and Randell Williams missing their kicks to give the Stags two chances to go through.

But debutant Luke Southwood came to his team’s rescue with two huge saves from Will Swan and Aaron Lewis, Hiram Boateng also putting his effort well wide.

Wanderers made nine changes from the side that had beaten Leyton Orient, captain Ricardo Santos and number 10 Scott Arfield the only men asked to go again. There were full debuts for new signings Southwood, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Chris Forino, Jay Matete and John McAtee and a first start since May 2023 for George Johnston on the left side of defence.

With so many changes and fresh faces a certain amount of disjointed football could be forgiven. It took Evatt’s side a fair while to grow into a first half played in a perpetual downpour, the grey football often mirroring the dour weather above.

Bolton’s best chance fell to Victor Adeboyejo, Saturday’s matchwinner and showing here his improvement as a number nine who is able to hold up play. Unfortunately as a dull half drew to a close he pulled his shot wide of the far post after being fed by a clever ball from McAtee.

That triggered a spell of decent pressure for the Whites, with Forino going close from an Aaron Morley corner and Jay Matete also seeing a goal-bound shot deflected wide.

Only in fleeting moments did Bolton get their regular passing game going, otherwise the more fluid stuff came from the Stags. Osei-Tutu made one excellent intervention to clear Tom Nicholls’ low cross and deny debutant Ben Quinn a tap-in, and in doing so went headlong into the advertising hoardings. In a week where Wanderers have lost Will Forrester and Klaidi Lolos to injury, the last thing they needed was another man in the queue for the treatment room, and thankfully the former Arsenal trainee was okay to continue after treatment.

There was more to appreciate in a defensive sense from Bolton in the opening 45 minutes, Santos making a couple of vital challenges to rescue some of the sloppier moments in possession at the back, and new boy Matete really showing up well as he mopped up in midfield.

Mansfield had also made nine changes to the team which had bettered Barnsley on Friday night but they went back down the tunnel feeling better about their night’s work and the possibility of picking up a first win in Bolton since 1987.

Eoin Toal came on at half time for Santos – presumably a pre-planned substitution – and Wanderers made a positive start to the second half, Johnston playing a great ball out of defence to McAtee, and Osei-Tutu driving his shot narrowly wide on the overlap.

Mansfield, who had made two changes of their own at the break, hit straight back and had a goal ruled out for offside when Will Swann’s shot was pushed aside by Southwood and Nicholls found the back of the net with the follow-up.

Substitutions were the magic ingredient in the capital on Saturday and Evatt freshened things up further on the hour mark, bringing Aaron Collins, Dion Charles and George Thomason into the game. And within a few minutes of entering the field, all three had played a part in the opening goal.

After Collins and Charles had combined to launch an attack down the left, Deji Oshilaja tripped the latter as he looked to surge into the penalty box to earn a yellow card. Thomason’s free kick bounced off a defender, but Wanderers were able to keep the pressure on, and the same player made sure his next shot counted – a brilliant 25-yard effort that bounced off the underside of the bar and into the net.

It was a rare moment of excitement on a night that screamed ‘early rounds of the cup’ but for a £10 ticket price, probably covered the cost on its own.

Suddenly there was a bit of spark about the game, both sets of fans suddenly found their voice. That seemed to rather over-stimulate Hiram Boateng, who was lucky to stay on the pitch after taking a wild swipe at Matete, then trying to pick a fight with anyone in his path back to the halfway line.

Evatt’s incredulous protests earned him a yellow card from referee Adam Herczeg, and even his punishment could have been more severe.

Wanderers could have wrapped things up completely after Collins had one shot bounce off the backside of a defender, then fizzed another one just wide after taking the ball off the toes of Williams.

Any hope of an early night was extinguished eight minutes from time, however, as sub Davis Keillor-Dunn surged past Josh Dacres-Cogley into the left side of the penalty box and produced an excellent finish into the bottom corner.

Collins was frustrated twice more, keeper Christy Pym making two big saves before Osei-Tutu then drove another effort inches wide.

All the excitement had been shoehorned into the final stages but the Whites couldn’t find another clear moment in the four minutes of added time to save us the peril of a penalty shoot-out.

Adeboyejo scored with his opening spot kick, Jordan Bowery pulling Mansfield level. Thomason saw his effort pushed away by Pym at the same end he had previously scored and the experienced head of Lee Gregory nudged the visitors in front.

Aaron Collins tucked his penalty away well, Elliott Hewitt blasting his effort into the roof of the net to make it 3-2.

Randell Williams was next up, putting a poor effort well wide of the target, which left Boateng – the villain of the piece – with a chance to win it. There was some karma in seeing him put an effort even wider than Williams.

Charles had to score – and did – but Aaron Lewis could still have won it. Southwood came to the rescue with a fine save to bring the shoot-out to sudden death.

Matete’s cheeky effort was borderline outrageous but Callum MacDonald held his nerve to bring up Josh Dacres-Cogley; he did the business, piling pressure on to Will Swan, and aptly Southwood’s dive was correct.

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Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Wrexham

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Wanderers certainly showed all the grit they will need for an automatic promotion push in League One but none of the subtlety in a tense goalless draw against Wrexham.

Questions have been asked of what scars would be left by the play-off defeat exactly three months earlier and Ian Evatt will undoubtedly draw some positives from the way his side handled the Welsh side’s relentlessly rough-and-tumble approach.

An endless stream of set pieces were repelled, shots blocked, challenges won – but when Bolton needed to find a moment of quality at the other end of the pitch it was a different story.

Good chances fell to Dion Charles and Aaron Collins but the Whites found ex-Arsenal keeper Arthur Okonkwo in terrific form, and he walked away with the man-of-the-match award as well as a first clean sheet of the season.

There was no Ryan Reynolds or Rob Mcelhenney in the directors’ box and no Hollywood glamour over 90 minutes. At times it had all the glitz of a Ken Loach kitchen sink drama.

But Evatt’s men showed fight, and at times those qualities have been doubted, especially since Wembley.

Wanderers made two changes from the side that beat Leyton Orient on the opening day of the season, bringing George Johnston in for his first league start since the play-off semi-finals in 2023, replacing Jack Iredale, and John McAtee for Scott Arfield in the front three.

Anyone expecting a free-flowing football classic probably hadn’t done their homework on the opposition – Parkinson’s side just as scrappy and physical as the one he created at Bolton to get promotion from this very league in 2017.

For the first 15 minutes the visitors struggled with Wanderers’ movement, particularly down the left where Szabolcs Schön, Johnston and George Thomason found some early successes.

On the other side, Josh Dacres-Cogley also stole an early march on James McClean, albeit the experienced Northern Irishman, being used as a wing-back, got back on equal terms as the half wore on.

Okonkwo was definitely the busier of the two keepers and was needed to push Aaron Collins’ bouncing shot wide after just six minutes. From the corner, he struggled to hold the ball amongst a mass of arms and legs but Tom O’Connor came to his aid with a clearance before it could be forced over the line.

Wrexham survived that spell of pressure to start applying some of their own. What the Welshmen offered was mainly restricted to set pieces and, pleasingly, Bolton defended them well, even 5ft 7ins Hungarian Schön – watched by compatriot and ex-Whites keeper, Adam Bogdan – chipped in with some important clearances.

Bolton continued to carve out reasonable chances. Collins arrowed a low cross to Charles, whose flick landed on the roof of the net, and Josh Sheehan had a curling free kick pushed over by Okonkwo.

Midfield was a mess of snapping and snarling challenges, the game balanced in a perpetual state of transition. Wanderers might have been ahead on points in this slug-fest but they were struggling a little to land a clean blow.

Likewise, Wrexham did not spark into life until the second half. Tom O’Connor blasted one shot a goal, blocked bravely by Ricardo Santos, but only mustered a real shot on target a couple of minutes after the restart when Nathan Baxter got down to push Jack Marriott’s effort wide.

Almost immediately, McAtee put an excellent ball through for Charles, who had slipped the other side of his marker. Unfortunately, he could not beat Okonkwo with his weaker left foot.

Wrexham were given another free kick in a good area when Santos made a clumsy challenge on Andy Cannon. When the ball was launched into the penalty box it took a vital clearance from Thomason in his own six-yard box to prevent problems.

Whether it was the occasion, or an element of over-excitedness, but Wanderers had not been as exact in possession as they needed to be. Even the safest hands - Sheehan or Collins, for example – were just off the mark. Just before the hour, though, it nearly all clicked into place as Sheehan, McAtee and Thomason conspired to give Charles a chance, his shot clawed wide by Okonkwo at full stretch.

Still the game hung in the balance. Elliott Lee smashed a shot from 25 yards which had Baxter momentarily shifting anxiously back towards his line and McClean laced a volley over the bar after yet another corner.

The 13th corner of the game nearly proved a lucky one for Bolton as Eoin Toal climbed to beat his marker, his effort cleared from close to the line. Santos then followed up, his header clearing the crossbar.

Evatt freshened his options with Kyle Dempsey making a welcome return from injury. Vic Adeboyejo, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Scott Arfield and Jay Matete also entered a game now looking like it would be won by whichever side could find some composure around the penalty box.

The two sets of fans kept themselves entertained with some light-hearted banter. The last time the two sides met in 1988 there had been fewer than 6,000 at the Racecourse Ground but five minutes before the end it was confirmed that the crowd of 25,957 was indeed the biggest Bolton had welcomed since dropping out of the Premier League in 2012.

The tension climbed as the second ticked down, each side knowing a mistake could cost three points. Sub Stephen Fletcher struck an effort from distance that Baxter could only parry away – thankfully only in the direction of one of his own defenders.

Dempsey had added some direct running and twice nearly carved out an opportunity for Adeboyejo, once again the crucial moment of quality was lacking.

There was a penalty shout at the bitter end, Santos appealing that his shirt had been pulled by Eoghan O’Connell – a view that seemed to be shared by Evatt on the touchline – but the protests fell on deaf ears.

Three minutes of stoppage time were almost all used up as Bolton got one more chance to load the penalty box, Osei-Tutu winning a free kick on the right. The home fans had been crying out for their team to launch something forward but when the ball was cleared, referee Ben Speedie was quick to end the game as Johnston tried to dig out one final cross.

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Charlton Athletic 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

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Defeats always sting but that feeling is much worse when the outcome is, in Ian Evatt’s words, “self-inflicted”.

The first goal at the Valley was of Wanderers’ own doing, with skipper Ricardo Santos losing possession cheaply while looking to build from the back.

It still needed a fine strike from Greg Docherty to beat Nathan Baxter from the edge of the penalty area.

But it was a blow for the Whites after a fairly positive start against the Addicks, with John McAtee and Aaron Collins finding space to run into.

Evatt refused to point the finger after the final whistle, insisting the responsibility falls on his shoulders because of the way he wants Wanderers to build from the back.

The first goal is always important in League One but against Charlton, it had a massive impact on how the contest panned out.

Once Nathan Jones’ side got their noses in front, they were generally happy to sit back and look to frustrate Wanderers, who dominated possession but failed to make that translate into chances in the final third.

Without getting too technical, the heatmaps told an interesting story. Charlton were often penned in on the edge of their own box but, to their credit, defended resiliently to keep the Bolton attack at bay.

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Evatt’s men saw plenty of the ball in and around the penalty area but couldn’t quite get the final pass right.

The manager admitted that his side’s decision making wasn’t good enough on the day but is confident it will improve with more time on the training pitch.

John McAtee is still getting to grips with Bolton’s system and how his new team-mates operate, in fairness, while others have slightly different roles from last term as part of the tactical tweak.

But the frustration for supporters is that the game felt too similar to many occasions over the past few years.

It is a problem that even the top teams in Europe have when coming up against sides who look to sit deep and frustrate. In those instances, you simply cannot afford to give the opposition a head start.

After the opener, Wanderers did not have many moments of note in front of goal. Dion Charles forced Will Mannion into a decent stop low to his right after reacting quickly to get a shot away.

At the other end, Baxter made a good stop with his legs to deny Docherty a second after Thierry Small’s cross eventually dropped for the midfielder.

George Thomason delivered a dangerous cross on the stroke of half time that was not too far from curling into the bottom corner.

Evatt made a double change at the break, with Victor Adeboyejo and Jordi Osei-Tutu replacing Charles and Josh Dacres-Cogley after the latter had picked up a knock.

There has been plenty of debate over whether Adeboyejo is more suited to the Whites’ current system due to his physical attributes. However, it would be a big call to drop Charles, who has been the club’s top scorer in the past couple of seasons.

Adeboyejo showed glimpses of his hold-up play to bring the likes of Collins and McAtee into the game, but not much changed in the next 20 minutes, in truth.

Kyle Dempsey and Jay Matete were also introduced off the bench in place of Josh Sheehan and George Thomason as Evatt looked to inject energy in the middle of the pitch.

Dempsey had a bit of joy as the game became more stretched but clear-cut chances were still hard to come by.

The dynamic midfielder is perhaps a better fit for these types of games on the road but is still building up his sharpness after missing most of pre-season due to injury.

Eoin Toal had a half chance after getting on the end of Szabi Schon’s corner but could not direct his header goalward.

Charlton nearly doubled their lead through a corner of their own but Chuks Aneke could not keep his header down after getting up highest.

McAtee let fly from the edge of the area but his strike flew over the bar. Moments later, Aneke had another sight at goal but sliced an effort wide of the near post.

The end-to-end nature continued and it felt inevitable a goal was coming, but unfortunately it went the hosts’ way.

Wanderers lost possession in their own half again, although this time it was forced by Charlton’s aggressive pressing. Aneke picked out Matty Godden in the box with a pinpoint cross and he planted a diving header past Baxter.

Scott Arfield replaced Johnston for the final few minutes but the hosts preserved their clean sheet to continue an impressive start to the campaign.

It is still early days in the season and many teams will leave the Valley empty-handed in the coming months.

But even at this stage, Wanderers know they must offer more in front of goal with the firepower they have in the squad.

Evatt added after the match: “I said before the game I think (Charlton) will be in the top six, nothing has changed my mind about that.

“They are a different type of team to what we are, they are more robust, physical, aggressive, front foot and direct at times. There is no right or wrong way to do it, that has been successful in this league before.

“Nathan knows what he is doing, he has improved this team and that was an improvement from what I have seen in recent years.”

The fixtures now start to come thick and fast, and that is something Evatt is happy about as Bolton aim to bounce back quickly against Shrewsbury in the Carabao Cup.

There are likely to be more starts for some of the summer signings and players who have been returning from injuries, and it is a chance to prove why they should get the nod for the league matches.

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Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Exeter City - The Big Match Verdict

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Judgement is sometimes measured in timbre, the vocal overtones which accompany a misplaced pass, a conceded goal, or the final whistle which signifies the end of a damaging home defeat like this.

And sometimes these are passing fads. Football managers can be the cock of the walk one week and a human piñata the next, such are the emotions which flow within this apparently beautiful game.

So they flow readily at Bolton Wanderers right now.

Ian Evatt would have experienced this sort of disquiet had fans been allowed into the stadium in his first League Two season in charge, and he most certainly knew about it when the club made an inconsistent start to their first campaign after promotion.

But since that rocky New Year in 2022, before the board began to invest considerable chunks of cash in players like Dion Charles, Kyle Dempsey, Dan Nlundulu, Carlos Mendes Gomes, Aaron Collins, Szabolcs Schön, John McAtee and Aaron Collins, he has not sampled true unhappiness live and in person.

Wembley was a case of collective shock. Back in May you would have had to work hard to hear the grumbles from the Bolton end against the unbridled joy from the yellow shirts of Oxford to Evatt’s right. But this is a manager young enough to acknowledge the scope of social media, he is connected enough to know the dent that result put in his stock at Wanderers and also that he would start 2024/25 with a paper-thin advantage of goodwill, which would soon be shaved away by a poor start.

And here we are.

Bolton sit 18th in the table after a 2-0 defeat to Exeter City, a team which had been vanquished ruthlessly by seven goals to nothing on the same pitch back in November.

We had previously witnessed a patchy, functional win at Leyton Orient, a stoic draw at home to Wrexham which barely raised a smile and a drab defeat at Charlton which was roundly condemned by everyone who laid eyes upon it.

The fourth game, in front of a bumper gate swollen by discount tickets, had to be one that sent a convincing message. But in the end, it did completely the opposite.

New shape, new personnel but the same old issues dogged Evatt’s side as they were continually outbattled in midfield and stifled in attack. And while the manager was entirely correct in his summation that Exeter had only won by succeeding with two set pieces, his point was buried with the same enthusiasm by his critics as the captain of the Titanic saying the voyage would have been a roaring success had it not been for the icebergs.

Bolton look undercooked and have done since they stepped foot on the pitch in East London on the opening day of the season. This is of course a problem which can be rectified but let us not pretend that it is not an issue in the first place.

For Evatt, the calls for his head are nothing new. He has battled against the grain in some quarters for four years and is probably rather accustomed to it now. Wanderers’ owners stuck with him loyally after the play-off final and now seems a tad early for a change of tack, but nothing is eternal. Evatt continues to hold a win per centage of more than 50 per cent in the job – which would be ample for most folk – but such are the stresses on success this season, taking his presence in the dugout for granted would be foolhardy.

Wanderers have ploughed sums of money which are unprecedented in the post-Premier League era into the team without obvious demand of return. It seems unlikely, however, that the ownership group will approve of the league table view if they glance upon it over the international break.

Evatt has tried to temper the disappointment by saying he had expected a poor start, given the legacy injuries his squad had carried from the summer and the fact his signings had not arrived at the club as match-ready as he would have liked. But the audible evidence around the stadium on Saturday afternoon indicates that the fanbase have very little sympathy indeed.

At this point it is worth making a note in the margin of this negative critique, Evatt and his team have produced answers to all these questions and evaluations before, many times in fact. He seems to thrive on the prospect of being written-off, and certainly makes notes in times of hardship to reference when he comes out the other side. He is, in short, a survivor. And that is an admirable quality indeed.

But after seeing his side slip behind to Kamari Doyle’s superb free kick in the first half, the Whites boss took the decision to sit down and observe from the dugout once his team had gone two down through Milienic Alli just after half time.

As someone used to prowling the technical area and snarling at the officials it was a jarring, if submissive, move. And with his team struggling to find a higher gear on the pitch it became harder and harder to substantiate as the game wore on.

Football can feel like psychological warfare sometimes, and the lack of direction on the pitch cannot simply be pinned on the man – Ricardo Santos – wearing the armband. This isn’t Year Seven inter-school football, there are more bodies who have to take responsibility.

There was finger pointing, gesturing and shrugging in the final 20 minutes but precious few who took control of the ball and made something happen. Evatt, perhaps to make a point, watched that from a seated position.

Had Aaron Collins scored a few moments after Exeter had gone two up, rather than guiding his shot on to the crossbar, then who knows? Exeter never really looked solid at the back, and the collywobbles may have set in.

Ifs, buts and maybes are no good to Bolton after this unsatisfactory start, however, and what is abundantly obvious is that Evatt is going to face much stronger criticism if form does not turn around soon.

This writer has seen Wanderers managers swallowed up by the toxicity and has no interest in seeing it happen again for a person who has poured his heart and soul into turning the club around over the last four years.

Everyone has their own view. Some will choose to voice theirs in a way that can he clearly heard. And that volume has increased since Ben Toner blew his final whistle on this deeply disappointing 90 minutes.

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Barrow 2-3 Bolton Wanderers - big match verdict

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Wanderers earned themselves a welcome bit of breathing space during the international break by rescuing a win at Barrow in the opening group match of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

Trailing 1-0 at the break with a strong side, the fallout from a defeat against Ian Evatt’s former employers would surely have made for an uncomfortable 10 days to the Huddersfield home game.

John McAtee found a vital equaliser to cancel out Sam Foley’s header and Aaron Collins produced his best half of the campaign, scoring an excellent second before Kyle Dempsey grabbed a third. Andy Dallas scored almost immediately to keep the tension high – but a win of any kind will feel like a good one for Evatt right now, and while his side never looked at their very best, they did enough.

Wanderers made just three changes from Saturday’s defeat at home to Exeter City with Jay Matete, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Aaron Collins coming in for Dion Charles, Josh Sheehan and Chris Forino – who was drafted into the Northern Ireland, Wales and St Lucia squads, respectively.

The strength of the starting line-up may have surprised some, and particularly those who feel this competition should be relegated to the very bottom rung of the priority ladder this season. It did, however, give Evatt a chance to bed down the slightly altered shape which has brought decidedly mixed results in League One so far. And given the reaction to the previous defeat, this really was an opportunity to shift the narrative just a little during the international break.

The first 45 minutes summed up Bolton’s season so far.

While they enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, Barrow racked up the better chances and got themselves ahead. Added to that, Jordi Osei-Tutu limped off with what looked like a knee injury midway through the half having been his team’s brightest player to that point.

Barrow got off to a flyer. The League Two side had knocked Derby County out of the Carabao Cup and kept three league clean sheets out of four, and despite making several changes to their weekend win at Harrogate, proved no pushovers.

Katia Kouyate had a near-post effort deflected wide with barely two minutes on the clock, Andy Dallas seeing another effort go close moments later as the Whites struggled to get out of their own penalty box.

The home side hunted down Bolton’s attempts to play out from the back and possession in the early stages was all-too-often sloppy, inviting Barrow to take the advantage.

Wanderers got their act together in fits and starts. John McAtee snapped one low shot at goal, pushed aside by Wyll Stanway, and Dempsey drilled a fine ball across goal to which neither McAtee nor Collins could get a decisive touch.

Dempsey and Osei-Tutu did make inroads down the right, and looked the best shot of finding a goal, but the final bass – as so often has been the case so far this season – was never quite sharp enough.

Nathan Baxter made a good one-handed save to push away a shot from Dallas, who should probably have done better after getting to the rebound ahead of Johnston, only to prod his shot just over the bar.

Thomason put his side in trouble a couple of minutes later with a sloppy pass on the edge of the box, ex-Bury man Dominic Telford curling another effort at goal which was palmed away by Baxter.

Collins went very close to opening the scoring after taking Thomason’s smart pass on the turn and curling a shot just wide of the upright. McAtee also had a goal chalked out after latching on to a similar pass, only to find himself just offside.

But what turned the half from a frustrating exercise into a potentially damaging one happened in the final 10 minutes. First a relatively innocuous collision between Osei-Tutu and Junior Tiensia on halfway ended with the Bolton man being helped off the pitch in pain, with Luke Matheson replacing him from the bench.

And to rub salt into the wounds, the Bluebirds nudged themselves ahead when Sam Foley got forward from midfield and headed home Ben Jackson’s cross ahead of Szabi Schon.

There was a brief flicker of hope for an equaliser right on half time as Stanway got caught miles out of his own goal with Dempsey scampering through, but the Barrow keeper did well to scramble the ball behind for a corner in the end.

The 700-or-so travelling fans were hardly voicing their displeasure in the same way as 21,000 had done at the Toughsheet on Saturday but they definitely demanded better than they were seeing. And, in fairness, things did pick up after the break.

Foley might have made things very awkward had he repeated his trick of the first half and got a header on target from Jackson’s free kick.

But Bolton were that bit quicker and sharper, and Collins – who had been inconsistent in possession in the first half – suddenly started to look like his old self.

Home keeper Stanway made a couple of good stops to deny Schon and Collins but as the rain started to drive down in Cumbria, Bolton were finally able to make their pressure count.

McAtee scored his first Wanderers goal after Collins’ shot was initially saved by Stanway but the former Barnsley man was quick to the loose ball, sliding into the net along with it to the delight of the away supporters.

A lead followed quickly, Collins turning on the corner of the area to drive a brilliant effort into the bottom corner. The mood, like the scoreline, had also flipped completely and suddenly the drive back down to the M6 felt that bit closer.

Dempsey then grabbed a third, stabbing a shot at goal which dribbled under Stanway’s body and apologetically over the line. That should have been game safe but Dallas – who had been a handful all night – took advantage of Santos’s positioning to grab a second, with Bolton left protesting offside.

Wanderers saw the game out from there, Collins and McAtee having half-chances to extend the lead in stoppage time. But considering where they were at the break, there were a few looks of relief as Thomas Parson’s brought the game to a close.

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Bolton Wanderers 0-4 Huddersfield Town - The Big Match Verdict

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Will this be the final act of the Ian Evatt era at Bolton Wanderers? A spectacular self-combustion of a team disappearing under the weight of its own footballing philosophies and expectations?

There was an end-of-days feeling about a gutless second half at the Toughsheet, during which the steady exit of home fans was more damning than any adjective we could conjure for what was happening on the pitch.

Trailing 1-0 at half time in a game of little quality, the Whites found new levels of abjectness when they returned. Three more goals were leaked, the last of which was like a poisoned pen letter to Brand Evatt, leaving the embattled and suited manager stood motionless on the edge of his technical area, hands in pockets, facing the full stream of sarcasm from a joyous away end and the bilious barbs from those home supporters who had elected to stay.

Evatt has ridden out rough storms before, even been through longer winless runs. He has stood front and centre, belief in his style of football utterly unwavering, despite results since the turn of the year suggesting opposition managers have found a way to negate the qualities that once counted as Bolton’s strengths.

But by his own admission, his team are fuelled by confidence. And whether it be the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion at the end of last season, the pain of the play-off final, or the fractured preparations for the new campaign, the forward momentum has now stopped completely, and Evatt’s vehicle came to a spluttering halt on Saturday afternoon with 20,000-plus people watching on.

Forget the echo chambers of social media, the show of no confidence was there in thousands of seats vacated way before the final whistle sounded. Even if conversations with Sharon Brittan and the board result in him staying in post, there is a very real chance that too much damage has now been done to get things moving in a positive direction again.

Every soul in modern football has a finite shelf life, be it player or manager. Only the luckiest ones get to move on by their own volition. And if this is farewell then it should be put on record that Evatt has given Bolton Wanderers some fantastic times.

It has become abundantly clear, however, that the sweeping changes needed to avoid the disappointment of Wembley bleeding into the current season have not been made. They have followed like a morbid shadow and rendered a team which once looked Championship ready into one which looks directionless and unmotivated.

Evatt had considered his own future in May but elected after talks with the ownership to take on the challenge one more time. In truth, a scrappy opening day win at Leyton Orient is one of only a few things that have gone right in the months since.

Would the chance of some separation in international break bring a change of fortune? Sadly not. Huddersfield are precisely the sort of powerful, direct opposition which have been Bolton’s undoing so often, and once they Josh Koroma had nodded them ahead just before the break, the Whites were plunged into a downward spiral.

Dion Charles was subbed at half time for Victor Adeboyejo in an attempt to jump start the listless football of the first 45 minutes and for a brief period he looked the brightest player on the pitch.

All hope was extinguished, though, when referee Chris Chilowicz gave a penalty against Chris Forino for a tangle of legs with Koroma. The centre-half found himself regularly swamped down Huddersfield’s left, which proved some comedown from his idyllic international stint with St Lucia the weekend before.

Koroma scored from the spot and the Terriers smelled blood. Nine minutes later Ben Wiles slotted in the third after Bolton failed to clear a corner, prompting a mass walk-out from three sides of the stadium.

The fourth goal was a tragedy that Shakespear himself would have struggled to script.

Evatt has been completely unapologetic about his desire to see his defenders play out from the back, to draw teams in and break forward with pace and precision. Or at least that is how is sounds in theory.

In reality, Bolton have not played with the necessarily vigour to make that approach work for some time. And as Huddersfield’s hungry front line chased down the ball forcing Szabi Schon, Eoin Toal and Josh Sheehan backwards, there was a sense of inevitability that it would end in trouble. Sure enough, Sheehan’s panicked ball back to Nathan Baxter should have been punted clear, but instead the keeper chose to try and pick a pass to Jay Matete which was snapped up by Antony Evans and despatched into the goal with glee.

Aside from the crestfallen Baxter, face down in disappointment on the turf, the resigned look on Wanderers faces as they ambled back towards the centre circle said it all. A team beaten, and not just on the day.

Wanderers fans made their feelings known, and they had every right to do so. They have backed the team and the manager to the hilt, had sang his name before kick-off, and the atmosphere had turned sour only when the game was completely beyond recovery.

While Evatt has always had his critics, public flashpoints had been few and far between, certainly in comparison to predecessors like Dougie Freedman, Gary Megson or going back even further, Phil Neal. And there is still a sizeable chunk of the fanbase hoping he can turn it around, albeit they are now drowned out by the more dissenting voices.

After the match, it was difficult to assess whether the man himself really felt he was up to the challenge. Just like at Wembley, he was speaking on instinct, shell-shocked into a confession that the “black cloud” of the play-off final was still hanging around.

He said he would seek talks with the ownership about what happens next, and football logic would suggest those in charge will also want answers.

Five games into the new season, anything is still possible, but perhaps not now without major intervention. Whether that comes from the board room, or from Evatt himself, we should find out very soon.

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Bolton Wanderers 5-2 Reading: The Big Match Verdict

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Ian Evatt would rightly have a smile on his face as he laced up his cricket boots and pads this on Sunday morning knowing he’s still not out.

Faced with an escalating and worrying situation at Wanderers he had made some ballsy calls, even admitted mistakes, and could easily have been heading into a hat-trick of away games on a hiding to nothing.

Instead, his players came through for him, not before time. His choices paid off and though a 5-2 win against Reading was not without its faults, it was most certainly a step in the right direction for a side still harbouring ambitions of automatic promotion next May.

Whether the manager’s job security was really as strained as it seemed after the 4-0 defeat against Huddersfield Town, we may never truly know for sure. Evatt certainly has a flair for the dramatic and his post-match interview had fuelled just about every critical voice the town had to offer for several days afterwards.

What is beyond question is that something had to change. And in a rare moment of submission, he ripped up the gameplan he had cooked-up post play-off final defeat in May to revert back to a system that felt as warm and comforting as any roast lunch laid at the table the following day.

The 3-5-2 formation isn’t flawless, much like the manager who favours it, but it does at least suit players like Eoin Toal, Josh Sheehan, Josh Dacres-Cogley and Dion Charles, who had been just a few of many struggling with the complications of the former system.

Whether Wanderers can play this way and avoid being choked out in the same way they were against Oxford United or go into battle against a direct promotion rival and come out on top remains to be seen. This was all about putting one boot in front of the other once again, and it immediately felt a good fit.

Evatt’s other big call was to remove the captaincy from Ricardo Santos and hand it to George Thomason, which to some may have been viewed as a snub to the defender who has been the central pillar of the team for the last four years.

Fans certainly picked up on the fact that Santos walked back down the tunnel rather than join the players on a lap of appreciation after the final whistle, albeit after a big hug from his manager.

The 29-year-old won’t lose an ounce of respect in the dressing room regardless of the armband and may well admit in his heart of hearts that the stress of fronting the team in the last nine months has chipped away at his form and confidence.

And before his critics conspire, it is worth remembering that captaincy can be stripped from the best of them. Just ask Jay-Jay Okocha, who lost the armband to Kevin Nolan in late 2005 when his own Premier League performances started to dwindle under the weight of his responsibilities.

Thomason has always been an old head on young shoulders and few, if any, in the Bolton camp share quite the same depth of tactical understanding with Evatt. His role in the team won’t change, nor will that of Santos, but the redrawn lines could help to relieve some of the pressure.

It is hard to recall a regular league game that has carried such expectancy at Wanderers, with many holding the view that anything but a win would give the board reason to consider change. Evatt maintained on Thursday that he had the requisite backing among the ownership group and on the terraces, and in both cases he has been proven correct.

That is not to say the supporters were as convivial as they would normally be towards the Whites boss, at least until the bitter end of the game. A very small number conjured a banner in the North Stand at one stage which read “Evatt Out” but it had been neatly folded up and packed away by the time Bolton went in at half time 4-1 to the good.

A strong start to the game and an early 11th minute free-kick from the restored Josh Sheehan made sure of a buoyant first-half atmosphere which never threatened to lapse into the same stormy mood we had eventually felt in the previous two home outings. The chastening experience of the last fortnight might have been a warning to both the players and Evatt himself, however, of what can happen when standards slip.

Three goals from Charles before the break gave Wanderers a comfortable cushion. The first and third were penalties, as Reading’s clumsy defending was punished, but the well-taken second was a hark back to his best form, leaving one defender on his backside after latching on to Dacres-Cogley’s pass and then sliding a shot through the legs of David Button.

The Royals have had plenty of distractions of late, a failed takeover and nefarious ownership echoing Bolton’s own darker days. Their young side may have looked porous but they did create chances and after Ben Elliott prodded a shot off the post to beat Nathan Baxter the keeper came up with a stunning save to push away Amadou Mbengue’s header before half time and prevent any serious nerves from jangling.

Wanderers’ second-half performance was not as crisp. Sam Smith scored a second from the spot for Reading after being tripped by Santos and – briefly – those dark clouds seemed to be edging their way across the skies from Winter Hill.

Thankfully, a succession of substitutions brought some fresh energy to Bolton’s cause. Kyle Dempsey headed a fifth from Randell Williams’ corner and then hit the crossbar late on after a goalmouth scramble.

Aaron Collins and John McAtee, both relegated to the bench, also showed some spark late on to give another layer of hope to the home crowd.

A smattering of empty seats suggested that at least some supporters elected to stay away in protest at the poor start and it would be wrong to say that one improved 90 minutes has solved the problems which have racked up for Evatt and his team since the summer.

Until now there had been no hope offered. A new formation had seemingly neutralised some of Bolton’s biggest assets and the manager himself was looking somewhat lost in the noise.

Evatt’s tenure at Bolton is flecked with big decisions which have proven signposts for better times, and some would argue a degree of stubbornness has stopped those changes happening quicker. In this case, there is ample time to put things right for everyone.

He looked more at peace leading the applause after the final whistle, the baggage of the last few weeks dropping off him with every stride.

Having been hit for six by the frustration of the last few weeks, the manager might now enjoy a spell at the crease again to build his innings.

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BIG MATCH VERDICT: Surprise switch-up works a treat for Wanderers

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Ian Evatt enjoys a good boxing analogy and so were this hard-fought win to be described as a footballing version of rope-a-dope, he would probably appreciate the reference.

It is a rare occasion that we have seen Wanderers deviate so completely from their possession obsessed brand, so rare in fact that at times on Saturday lunchtime it felt like watching a completely different team.

Forget control, Crawley were positively encouraged to attack in waves, punching themselves to a standstill without seriously testing Nathan Baxter’s goal, all for the moment the right pass or a well-timed turnover could send them rocking back on their heels.

The plan was not without its risks. The newly promoted Reds were game, they attacked in swarms, they were aggressive without ever being reigned in by official Jacob Miles, and had they somehow found a way through Bolton’s defences a very different tale could have unfolded.

But Kyle Dempsey’s early goal provided a solid foundation and in the moments that Wanderers elected to counter-punch they looked far more likely to cause damage. The knockout blow did not come until 12 minutes from the end from sub John McAtee, a venomous drive followed by an acrobatic celebration in front of 1,000 travelling fans who, at times, did not know what to make of this alternate approach, but who appreciated the end result nonetheless.

Manager Evatt has so often been accused of lacking tactical diversity, his preferred Pep Guardiola-influenced style increasingly being used as a stick to beat him over the head when mistakes are made on the pitch.

Even Sam Allardyce joined in the pile-on a couple of weeks back, bringing his former club’s defeat against Huddersfield Town into the anti ‘Tippy Tappy’ football debate on his popular podcast.

Big Sam would have appreciated much about this away performance. It echoed days of old at Bolton when a ‘you have the ball, we’ll score the goals’ ethos ruffled feathers all over the Premier League.

This was Crawley. At this time last season they were still one of the favourites for relegation from League Two and under Scott Lindsey they managed to secure one of the most unlikely promotions in recent years.

This was also the week in which the Reds lost their manager to MK Dons, but any sense of vulnerability disappeared early in the game after Dempsey had smashed home Josh Sheehan’s corner and the home side had stabilised once again.

Once ahead, Wanderers initiated their plan. Those of us watching from the outside wondered if the Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal had somehow taken the edge off their confidence on the ball but the ploy was quite deliberate. Crawley were allowed to progress, their shape to open up, with Bolton looking to pinch the ball and hit quickly through the exposed gaps.

Dion Charles looked right up for the challenge and twice got through on goal, once denied by Jojo Wollacott and a second time by the toe of a defender’s boot, diverting his left-footed effort inches wide.

Dempsey was also unfortunate to see another effort bounce off the underside of the bar and on to the goal-line, and at one point Szabi Schon led a procession of Wanderers players unable to turn home a Josh Dacres-Cogley cross at the far post.

If Crawley’s efforts on goal appear to have been overlooked, it is because for all their time on the ball, their movement around the penalty box, there was practically no end product. A defence which has leaked like a sieve in recent weeks suddenly looked solid once again, with centre-back Eoin Toal enjoying his best outing of the season so far.

Wanderers lost their way a little at the start of the second half. The ball still stayed away from Baxter’s goal but for 20 minutes or so the home crowd started to feel like something was possible. Bolton’s fans, lined up in a slender stand behind the goal, saw practically nothing at their end until the introduction of McAtee and Aaron Collins off the bench.

Both strikers had given Arsenal problems at the Emirates and instantly got to the pace of the game, proving a little more streetwise.

Referee Miles had been impossible to predict, contributing to a nasty, unhappy atmosphere around the compact ground. His reluctance to crack down on Crawley’s off-the-ball shenanigans or midfielder Jay Williams’ persistent fouling was baffling at times, and home fans also took issue with his assistants, who they felt were slow to raise the flag on a few counter attacks.

More controversy was just around the corner, though, as Schon scampered on to a loose ball on the left, just saving it from going out of play. Home fans appealed for the throw but the Hungarian wing-back carried on his run, switching a pass for Collins who then rolled another for McAtee to lash a brilliant second.

It had not been a game for the purists but the type of unglamorous occasion that has often tripped Bolton in the past. Had they carved out a few more points without playing their most attractive football last season, the play-offs would not have been necessary.

Job done, travelling fans applauded the effort. Evatt and his squad responded in kind, yet many who were there in Sussex and watching back home on TV pointed out that Ricardo Santos had hung back from the applause.

This had been one of the centre-back’s better games this season and he nearly capped it with a header which was pushed over the crossbar by keeper Wollacott.

Santos has been through the mill of late – his form questioned, and his captaincy passed on to George Thomason. Criticism has, at times, gone overboard, particularly on social media, and one wonders if that has left the big defender simmering somewhat.

It has also left a fanbase discussing between itself if a line has been crossed.

Much like the manager, Santos probably has some work to do if he is to restore his stock previous highs. The respect he is held in, however, is not in doubt.

Wanderers have taken tentative steps back towards normality in recent weeks and it would be a fine thing indeed to see one of the club’s most important players look happy once again in the shirt he is wearing.

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BIG MATCH VERDICT: Bolton battle the elements to win at Northampton

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What looked like a week from hell has seen Bolton Wanderers turn an unlikely corner in League One.

Three games, more than 1,100 miles of travel, but a team now looking like it has recovered from the early season wobbles and is upwardly mobile once again.

In drenched conditions at Sixfields, Ian Evatt’s side looked rampant for the most part, John McAtee, George Thomason, Eoin Toal and Dion Charles establishing a thoroughly deserved four-goal lead.

Two late consolations took a little of the shine off, as Tom Eaves and Jon Guthrie headed home in stoppage time, but with the Bolton fans cheering his name perhaps the most important moment of the night came after the final whistle as Ricardo Santos turned to the away supporters and applauded, albeit from a distance.

Wanderers changed-up their front two, bringing in McAtee and Aaron Collins for Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles, and there was a welcome return on the bench for Klaidi Lolos after injury.

The game had been officially given the go-ahead by officials at around 6.30pm but the swirling rain and sodden patches in the wider areas of the pitch meant uncertainty hung in the air right the way up to kick-off. Bolton had been here before, of course, and nobody wanted to see another Plymouth, Cambridge or Mansfield.

Santos had been the name on everyone’s lips before the game. Talk of online abuse and falling out with supporters was not the ideal build-up, but if the minority had caused him upset, then the response from the vast majority should certainly let him know how valued he is among the Bolton fanbase.

The defender’s name was sung right the way through the warm-ups and at regular intervals throughout the game – and he responded with one of his best 90 minutes in a Bolton shirt.

Just six minutes in he played a ball with perfect weight to find Szabi Schon on the left wing, the Hungarian taking it in his path without breaking stride and stroking a ball for McAtee, who scored for the second game running to make it the perfect start.

Kyle Dempsey flashed a shot inches wide of the post moments later as Bolton’s defenders – in this case George Johnston – continued to keep the pressure on with some great distribution from the back.

The slippery surface made for some teeth-clenching moments, George Thomason had a day to forget at this very ground last season, and he clattered into a challenge on Akin Odimayo midway through the half that had the home fan screaming for a repeat red card.

He got a yellow – and the same leniency was shown to Schon when he went overboard with a challenge on Mitch Pinnock. To his credit, the Northampton wide man’s reaction may have convinced ref Matt Corlett that a booking was sufficient.

Wanderers were again cutting down on the passes, a sensible move in the circumstances, but the direct approach is starting to suit them. The second goal was as simple a chipped pass as you’d like from Josh Sheehan to find Thomason dashing through the middle, but the captain’s lob over the on-rushing Lee Burge had to be exact, and it was.

Toal had a decent headed chance to make it three, getting up on a free kick from Sheehan, but the home side finished the half strongly, Tyler Roberts bringing a fine save out of Nathan Baxter with a stinging left-footed effort.

Northampton searched desperately for a route back into the game at the start of the second half and put some pressure on the Wanderers goal. Baxter had to clear awkwardly a couple of times on the edge of his area and former Bolton loanee Luke Mbete also flashed a dangerous cross in from the left, sparking a moment of panic.

But Bolton soon regained control, and after Dempsey had arrowed one effort just wide and both Schon and Johnston went close, it was Toal who made the game safe, pouncing on the loose ball after a scramble at a corner.

Wanderers swapped their front two, bringing on Charles and Adeboyejo for the final 20 minutes, but the fizz had gone from the hosts. Mbete then picked up a nasty-looking injury in a collision with Thomason which left him needing a stretched, which further calmed the contest and meant that Evatt could start planning ahead for Shrewsbury on Saturday.

Of course, Charles was not going to let anyone take the headlines without a fight. And with 10 minutes to go he produced another goal that shows he might be edging back to his very best.

Fellow sub Randell Williams played the ball into the channel, Charles sprinting on to it and outstripping his marker Guthrie before driving an angled shot past Burge in front of the 633 squadron in the Persimmon Stand.

Charles fancied a second after bursting down the right moments later, and Scott Arfield was definitely better placed for a cut-back when the striker tried to beat Burge at his near post.

Seven minutes of added time was flashed up by the fourth official, and the travelling fans were calling for a fifth. Instead, the Cobblers found a way of making stoppage time feel uncomfortable.

Bolton old boy Tom Eaves headed home their first, and Jon Guthrie did the same from a corner to leave the precious few home fans who had not filed out of the building wondering if they were about to see something special.

Sanity prevailed, thankfully, and Wanderers chalked up a third straight win for the first time in 2024.

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BIG MATCH VERDICT: Erratic Wanderers desperately need to find a steady hand

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Unpredictable, emotional, constantly treading the precarious line between hero and villain… and that’s just the 11 players on the pitch; then we come to the manager.

After tempting us with the vaguest hint of consistency in the last few weeks, Wanderers lurched back towards the erratic with a 97-minute see-saw ride that left some relieved, some nauseous and some just plain annoyed.

Submissive for much of the first half, rampant for most of the second, it was almost as if the club’s media team had pieced together the best and the worst bits of September and October and compiled them into a Big Brother montage.

Indeed, for the opening 45 minutes Bolton could easily have been a bunch of fame-hungry twentysomething strangers thrown into a house in the hope they do something entertaining.

Already without injured number one Nathan Baxter, replacement Luke Southwood twice had to pick the ball out of his net after poorly defended corners.

Some credit is due for the way they trampled the Shrews in the quarter of an hour after the restart, the words of an irate Ian Evatt evidently still ringing in their ears. Both Kyle Dempsey and Szabi Schon deserved their goals as the two best Bolton players on the pitch. But with ample time to find a third and the sedate crowd now awake and well onside, the whole team then lost the necessary composure to take anything other than a point.

On any ordinary day those transformations would have been sufficient talking points for a debate on whether Wanderers have the right mentality to go one better than last season. But events after the final whistle added another layer of complexity to it all, with the man responsible for guiding this team losing his rag in ungainly fashion and earning himself a straight red card which could now be costly in more ways than one.

Shrewsbury’s timewasting tactics were crass but understandable in their predicament, as was Evatt’s frustration that referee Declan Bourne had not played the eight allotted minutes of added time, let alone anything he wished to add himself.

The Nottinghamshire official had flashed the odd yellow card but seldom looked like someone who wanted to stamp out the gamesmanship for good. So, with Wanderers surging forward in the hope they could get a third goal, the decision to end play early was as bold as it was unjust.

Evatt set off from the dugout with the reactions of an Olympic sprinter, a snarling expression and his face, and a pertinent question on his lips. Somewhere in the centre circle muddle, Shrews skipper Morgan Feeney said something to exacerbate the situation, and the red mist really descended, the Bolton boss pushing his forehead into the defender and bearing his teeth in a display of seething anger.

Referee Bourne booked Feeney but gave Evatt, the aggressor of the piece, a straight red. And, realistically, the ramifications for the manager could extend beyond the obligatory fine and one-game ban, putting into question his involvement at Birmingham and even the home game against Peterborough at the end of the month.

Passion is one thing, rage is another. All signs point to Evatt having said nothing to the official which could have landed him in hot water but the contact, or confrontation with a player is something that is rarely looked upon favourably by the Football Association’s disciplinary committee, especially as this won’t be the manager’s first conference call with the folk from Lancaster Gate.

Had Bolton found a winner, they would have had just one point fewer than they did after 10 games last season, something of an achievement considering the rollercoaster ride we seem to have enjoyed since August.

And in isolation a point against Shrewsbury having been so poor in the first half is not the worst thing in the world. Yes, Paul Hurst’s side had won just once in their previous 15 games, yes, Bolton somehow managed to concede an identical goal to Jordan Shipley as they did in April’s 2-2 draw, and, yes, if Evatt could have hand-picked an opponent to see his side off for the international break, he could have done a lot worse.

But defensive frailties aside, there have been some positive signs of late, Evatt has made some good calls, and the whole season has been pulled back from the cliff is threatened to fall over just a few weeks ago.

Win, lose or draw, the manager would still have his critics. It just feels as though his actions after the final whistle have played directly into the hands of those who still feel he is not the right person to lead this club forward. Even his supporters – and there are still plenty – would find it hard to support what happened.

If Evatt and the club choose to fight whatever charge is produced by the FA then they could run the risk of a longer ban if the case against him is upheld. One game – in this case Burton Albion – would be the standard issue punishment, along with a fine, but one suspect they may look for something more in this instance.

Wanderers need stability right now. The post-Huddersfield inquest saw the board back Evatt and the reaction since has shown he has the support of his players, the last thing anyone needs now is another dose of uncertainty to throw form off again.

There is a welcome distraction in the form of Aston Villa Under-21s in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy – a small event in the grander scheme but one where Evatt can bring back some players returning from injury and try to calm the waters of his own situation once more.

It’s a well-worn joke around Bolton that life here is never dull. One wonders if what it would be like without the chaos and drama, and whether this consistently inconsistent club could do with a spell away from the white-knuckle ride?

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BIG MATCH VERDICT: A win's a win for Wanderers... But is this sustainable?

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Ten games into the new season and Wanderers have yet to really achieve lift-off.

Ian Evatt will draw some comfort from the fact his side are winning games again, his own situation night and day compared with the one he faced last month after a horror show at home to Huddersfield Town.

Results have improved too, this, a fourth win in the last five league games, ensuring a return to the top half of the table. Bolton are a point outside the play-off places, six behind second-placed Wrexham with a game in hand. Things are far from despondent.

But there lingers around the Toughsheet Stadium an undercurrent of dissatisfaction. Many are yet to be convinced that this team can challenge again for automatic promotion, and though the record books will only show three points against Burton Albion, very few of those who witnessed the performance will be shouting about a revival from the rooftops.

Ian Evatt had a grandstand view. Banned from the touchline after his red card against Shrewsbury he paced with purpose through the press box and up to the TV gantry before the game to take up a very different vantage point than he normally would. He left the post-match review to assistant Stephen Crainey, to whom he been relaying his instructions on a radio but judging by his steely eyed expression on the walk back down the stairs at both half time and full time, he agreed with most onlookers that there was much that could have been improved.

His march back down to the dressing room after the final whistle was interrupted by one brave fan who called out for a selfie. He obliged, but the expression probably said it all.

Wanderers had done enough to beat a struggling team but, let’s not sugar coat it, they had made mighty hard work of the process.

All the game’s goals were sandwiched inside five mad second-half minutes, which showed Bolton at their best, and at their worst.

Quick-thinking from Randell Wiliams at a throw in put Aaron Collins through for the first goal, the Welshman nicking the ball past Harry Isted and then stroking his shot past the covering defender like he had all the time in the world.

Moments later, Williams was celebrating acrobatically after racing on to a fine ball from Kyle Dempsey, cutting in off the right and then powering a shot past Isted.

That should have been job done for Bolton but they conspired to give Burton a route back into the game, allowing sub Jack Cooper-Love to waltz into the penalty box, Nick Akoto to square a cross and then Danilo Orsi to bundle the ball home via Josh Dacres-Cogley’s attempted clearance. Nobody placed within the penalty box wearing a white shirt escaped blame.

The last 25 minutes was played out in a nervous atmosphere. Bolton’s staccato spells of football not enough to create a third goal, while Burton’s greater urgency meant Ricardo Santos and Josh Dacres-Cogley were forced into more defending than they should have been at the bitter end.

In mitigation for their rather off-performance, Wanderers had to make some late changes. George Thomason was lost to a hamstring injury, Eoin Toal did not come through late checks on a head injury sustained on duty with Northern Ireland and keeper Nathan Baxter was not deemed clear of a muscular strain.

With Gethin Jones and Jordi Osei-Tutu not yet ready to be part of the squad, Evatt chose to play Williams as a right wing-back, shift Dacres-Cogley to centre-half and add a third striker, with John McAtee and Collins playing in behind Dion Charles up front.

Results were mixed. Willams certainly atoned for a poor show in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy but once again we found that layering the attacking talents of Charles, McAtee and Collins does not necessarily bring out the best in any of them.

Wanderers did start well, creating a handful of presentable chances in the opening 15 minutes. But not for the first time this season their failure to convert one and establish a lead saw them fall into a footballing malaise, Burton picking up the pieces to create the best opportunity of the half, missed at inexplicably close range by Mason Bennett.

The official attendance was given just over 19,000 but the atmosphere had been low key, save for Burton’s small band of supporters, who showed some splendid gallows humour by asking: “How s*** must you be? We’ve not won all year!”

Things picked up after the flurry of goals and it suddenly felt more like a game again, albeit one that Bolton were showing little interest in winning convincingly.

Sub Victor Adeboyejo had one chance blocked at close range by Isted. The excellent Ryan Sweeney also made several such important challenges throughout the course of the game.

There was no trace of the zip and vigour Wanderers had shown in the first 15 minutes of the game, however, nor in the brief window in which they added goals. And though it would be a stretch to say that Burton created chances of note, they simply shouldn’t have been within reach of a point in the first place.

Wanderers can point to the form book and say that things are looking better. Their slow crawl back up the league table would also bear out that point of view. Playing in this sporadic manner, however, feels somewhat unsustainable, especially given their opponents in the next two fixtures.

Birmingham City lead the division after their summer of extravagant spending and won’t have seen much in 90 minutes against the Brewers to bother them.

The Whites’ record against their direct promotion rivals has been much discussed in the last few seasons and what a statement it would be to see them go to St Andrew’s and carve out a result. Stranger things have happened.

But there is a sizeable portion of the fanbase who are already discounting Bolton as top two contenders – unfairly, perhaps, given their proximity. If there is a point to be proven in the Midlands on Tuesday night, it would be made in their direction.

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Big Match Verdict: Wanderers outclassed against high-flyers Birmingham

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Wanderers walked out at St Andrew’s to the crash and bang of fireworks and flames but left the pitch with a whimper after Ian Evatt’s plan to frustrate never quite came off.

Tomoki Iwata gave big-spending Birmingham City the lead after just three minutes in what threatened to become one of the more one-sided games in recent memory. And, in truth, it is a wonder that the Blues did not add to the scoreline well before the final few minutes of the match.

Evatt had described his opponents as an ‘outlier’ in League One, rejecting any comparisons with them as a promotion contender. And on this evidence, he is spot on, they are ahead by some distance.

But football does not always deal out what every team deserves and because of their defensive scrappiness, Wanderers kept themselves in the contest, and they had a fighting chance in the second half when the game opened up briefly to suggest the outcome was not inevitable.

But a lack of ruthlessness with the few chances which came their way meant any smash-and-grab headlines were shelves and Birmingham were able to take the points their dominance deserved.

Evatt’s hands remained tied to a certain extent, Nathan Baxter and Eoin Toal once again unable to feature, George Thomason consigned to the sidelines with a hamstring injury until the end of November. But nevertheless his starting line-up caused a few raised eyebrows across the Bolton fanbase.

Scott Arfield came in for his first league start since the victory at Leyton Orient on the opening day of the season and Jay Matete was also added to give some midfield rigidity. But with John McAtee and Aaron Collins sacrificed to the bench, Dion Charles cut an isolated figure for much of the evening.

Bolton’s plan to pack midfield and stay in the game worked to an extent, at least in that they went in only 1-0 down at the break. Iwata’s superbly taken third-minute goal threatened to trigger a landslide, the former Celtic man volleying past Luke Southwood from the edge of the box after Alfie May’s cross had been half-cleared by Josh Dacres-Cogley.

The home side smelled blood and ruthlessly exploited gaps behind the wing-backs Williams and Schon. Thankfully, Wanderers’ penalty-box defending remained suitably stout to repel the constant stream of crosses.

The Whites rode their luck at times. Alfie May had one goal rightly ruled out for offside but had two clear chances which got caught under his feet, one which had come directly from a Southwood goal kick.

In an attacking sense Bolton’s best chance fell to Josh Sheehan on the edge of the penalty box after a training ground corner, dummied by Arfield. But the Welshman found a Christoph Klarer in his way and further excursions into the Birmingham box were few and far between.

Put simply, Wanderers didn’t take care of the ball on the rare occasion they had it. The players jogged back down the tunnel with an overall pass success rate of 60 per cent – which was low even if compared to their last ‘defensive’ outing at Crawley.

Evatt had a rather less grand view of the pitch at St Andrew’s than he had enjoyed on Saturday at the Toughsheet, perched in front of the press box flanked by home fans. As he headed down to the dressing room at half time his chief reason for optimism would have been that the scoreline was still a marginal one.

Nevertheless, the injury issues refuse to go away. Kyle Dempsey had needed some treatment at the end of the first half and failed to show for the second, replaced by John McAtee. There was no respite from the Birmingham waves of attack after the restart, and May spurned yet another chance after a well-timed run got him in on goal and around Southwood, only for the Bolton keeper to smother his efforts to guide the ball towards the net.

The defending became desperate as Anderson had one effort blocked and Willum Willumsson’s follow-up was deflected over the top. After the corner was half-cleared Seung-Ho Paik arrowed a fine cross in for Laird, whose header was pushed aside superbly by Southwood.

Evatt tried to freshen up his attack, bringing on Collins and Adeboyejo, but for a good 10 minutes after their arrival, possession in the Blues half was minimal. Whereas Crawley were unable to do much damage with the possession afforded them a few weeks ago, this was an altogether more dangerous animal, and boy, Bolton lived on their nerves.

Johnston produced a goal-saving challenge six yards from goal to deny May – soon to be replaced by £11million man Jay Stansfield - and Anderson had another chance deflected wide as Southwood’s goal continued to lead a charmed life.

Defender Will Forrester made a welcome return from the bench, replacing Wiliams, in what was his first appearance since April 16.

While the scoreline remained 1-0, there was always a chance for Wanderers to produce something unexpected. There were a few fragments of hope thrown the way of the travelling fans, whose backing against the odds was relentless. Sub Adeboyejo pounced on a poor back-pass from Cochrane but was denied a shooting opportunity by some good covering defending from Ben Davies. McAtee also found himself in a decent position on the left edge of the box – his effort neither a cross nor a shot in the end.

The stakes got higher as the minutes ticked down. The ‘olés’ from the first half had disappeared and there was tension in the air to match the lingering smoke from the earlier fireworks.

McAtee had a chance to shatter the evening’s narrative. Out of nowhere the former Luton man found space open up in front of goal but he failed to beat the advancing Ryan Allsop, and moments later the game was gone.

Anderson – a rather underwhelming loanee in his youth at Bolton – had been one of his team’s most effective players all night, and his trickery forced the rusty Forrester into a rash challenge, giving ref Stephen Martin no choice but to point to the spot.

After a significant delay, Stansfield drove the ball home for the second.

Wanderers still had a chance to make stoppage time a closer affair, and once again it was McAtee who fluffed his lines, dragging a shot wide from eight yards.

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The Big Match Verdict: Can Posh drama be a turning point for Wanderers' season?

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In a season comprised mainly of rocks and pebbles, finally, a diamond.

It has been some time since the stadium erupted with joy quite like it did when Klaidi Lolos – and, more importantly, the ball – hit the back of net in the 98th minute on Saturday evening.

And it has been too long since we saw Ian Evatt’s Bolton Wanderers delivering a performance often hinted at, often discussed, but rarely witnessed in its entirety.

The record books show that this team has won six games out of their last eight in the league, an achievement that shouldn’t be downplayed regardless of how it was achieved. It has been a common criticism of this group that they don’t win games unless they are playing at their best.

Though the league position has steadily improved over the last six weeks, many remained unconvinced of Wanderers’ credentials. The “dark clouds” Evatt had discussed after that fateful home defeat to Huddersfield hadn’t cleared entirely, in fact, defeat to Birmingham in midweek had the weather forecasters issuing storm warnings before the next international break.

Peterborough United are not Birmingham. Nobody in this division gets close, truth be told. But they are exactly the standard of side Bolton will need to beat regularly if they are going to get to where they want to be. To do it with virtually the last touch of the game, in ‘Fergie Time’ with the Manchester United legend watching on and his son in the Posh dugout, only made it extra special.

We have witnessed Wanderers attack with such confidence and swagger in small patches this season, not least a goal-filled first half against Reading. Knowing that spark was in there was what made the dour games against Shrewsbury, Burton and the like even more frustrating.

And for the last couple of seasons there has been a big question mark hanging over the club in this type of game, against opposition who, like Bolton, have had two seasons of play-off heartache, and who will fancy their chances of being up there again in May.

Savour this feeling, for it won’t be like this every week. Football doesn’t work like that, even for Birmingham, who followed up that commanding performance against the Whites with a rather less spectacular draw at Mansfield.

The Blues do look like they are out on their own. You get what you pay for in this game and the tens of millions invested in that team should secure them a return to the Championship. But Bolton have also put hard cash into this squad, unprecedented amounts for them at this level in fact, so the pressure and expectation levelled at Evatt and his players is entirely fair.

The manager insisted there was more to come, and the standard of performance against Posh proves him right. Considering what players are also missing through injury – George Thomason, Gethin Jones, Carlos Mendes Gomes, Kyle Dempsey, Nathan Baxter, Chris Forino, Jordi Osei-Tutu – the way they dominated League One’s most prolific attack was hugely impressive.

Ricardo Santos, who has seemingly been stuck in purgatory since the play-off final, has been improving for a few weeks now. Injury free, and with a smile back on his face, this is the uncompromising, snarling, dominant version we know and love. Peterborough’s pacy front line hardly got a look in.

Jay Matete’s role in screening the back three was also hugely important, especially with summer target Joel Randall prowling behind his attack, and the on-loan Sunderland man had his best game in a Bolton shirt.

In attack, Wanderers were wasteful. Aaron Collins, George Johnston, Victor Adeboyejo, John McAtee and Dion Charles all had gilt-edged opportunities to score, with impressive visiting keeper Nicolas Bilokapic looking likely to end up the hero as the game moved into six minutes of stoppage time.

Crucially, and despite the acute lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, Bolton’s players maintained a fast pace. Helped by a home crowd who slowly bought in, raising the volume from a disinterested hush to a full-on cacophony by the end, the energy fed back on to the pitch and for the first time this season the Whites were attacking with real purpose, over a prolonged period.

Posh did everything they could to stem the flow. Cramp seemed to be contagious and though you could not deny Bilokapic deserved a lie down, he could have waited until after the final whistle. The irony of them losing out because the referee added on more time remains quite delicious.

Quite how referee Ollie Yates took 97 minutes to award a penalty, only he will be able to answer. The box looked more like an MMA octagon every time Josh Sheehan swung in a corner, and two big shout for pulls on Johnston and Santos had already been turned down. Thankfully, the ref finally wised up when Johnston again went crashing to the ground, the North Stand sending out a sonic wave of an appeal in the official’s direction.

Charles, off the bench and looking to add yet another goal against Peterborough to his collection, grabbed the ball and waited for a long time before being able to start his run up.

Bilokapic saved the spot kick, aimed down the middle, and then somehow managed to block Charles’s headed follow-up. For a mere heartbeat, the whole stadium held its breath, Evatt – up on the TV gantry, clutched his face in anguish. The ball popped up and Lolos timed his run perfectly, chesting it over the line and ending up in a delighted bundle in the back of the net.

Evatt celebrated enthusiastically with the analysts who usually spend their time perched in the gods, watching the action unfold. It is nice to see that the 27-year-old gantry, though in need of a lick of paint, is still bolted together effectively.

The task for Bolton now is to make this mean something. It is unreasonable to think that they can hit this standard every single week but they must begin to produce more consistency in their performances, and this same standard of support will follow.

Wouldn’t it be grand to look back on this weekend as a turning point? A moment when the clouds moved on somewhere else and we can enjoy some blue skies above the Toughsheet Stadium once again?

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BIG MATCH VERDICT: Cup embarrassment on hold for now with big challenges ahead

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Exiting the FA Cup at the hands of a League Two side was met with little more than a shrug by most this weekend, a result which will hopefully prove an insignificant footnote in the season’s grander tale.

Compared to the importance of promotion, a run in this competition does pale by comparison. And if by May Ian Evatt and his side have guaranteed Championship football, then the contents of Saturday afternoon will barely warrant another mention.

Experience tells us that these micro-doses of disappointment rarely vanish completely. The recent run of good league form has helped forge a reluctant truce between the manager and the most vocal of his critics. Rather like a warring couple, though, this type of result tends to be tucked away for use in a future argument.

Taking nothing away from Walsall, whose high-energy and commitment earned them their scalp, but Bolton played like a team who had nothing riding on the outcome. With the notable exception of captain George Johnston, who couldn’t dial down his enthusiasm if he tried, the whole side appeared to play within itself, offering nothing of the snap and crackle we’d seen at Stevenage or against Peterborough United.

Evatt had promised changes to the team, but it came as a surprise to many that his line-up was still comprised entirely of first team players, albeit ones who knew they could not afford to add to the club’s significant injury list.

Though youngsters like Jack Dallimore – used as reserve keeper because Luke Hutchinson was cup-tied – Sonny Sharples-Ahmed, Sam Inwood and Conor Lewis sat on the bench desperately waiting for an opportunity, the circumstances of the game prompted Evatt to attempt a rescue job and bring on big-hitters Vic Adeboyejo, John McAtee and Aaron Collins towards the end.

But having lost the lead given to them by Josh Sheehan’s classy free kick in just four minutes, Bolton became directionless and gradually succumbed to heavy home pressure, Jamie Jellis snatching a winner in the first of nine minutes of stoppage time.

It is a shame that Wanderers felt so indifferent about the outcome, as to the neutral this was a cracking traditional cup tie, played out in front of a stoked-up home crowd.

Had Evatt’s side retained the same cutting edge they had shown on Tuesday night, the game might have been over by half time. Dion Charles was unusually wasteful with a one-on-one, George Johnston hit the bar with a header and both Sheehan and Randell Williams had efforts deflected narrowly wide of Tommy Simkin’s goal.

By the close of the half Walsall had grasped Wanderers’ gameplan and their high-paced, direct football was starting to cause alarm. Jellis – who had gone close in the very first minute, pulled another good shot wide, and Johnston had to provide a wonderful headed clearance off the line to stop old stager Albert Adomah from opening the scoring.

When Wanderers did get their goal, it was against the run of play. Scott Arfield had another afternoon to forget, his chief contributions a first-half penalty appeal for a shove by Connor Barrett and being legitimately fouled by Harry Williams, presenting Sheehan with a shooting opportunity from 25 yards he was never going to turn down.

Keen to prove the old footballing cliché about never being more vulnerable than when you have just scored a goal, Bolton wasted their lead within four minutes. Will Forrester got caught under a long punt from keeper Simkin, the ball taking one bounce before Liam Gordon – one of Evatt’s early Bolton signings – lashed it home after outmuscling Randell Williams.

Walsall looked hungrier to win and had chances to do so. Jellis shaved the post with one curling shot and Luke Southwood made a couple of impressive saves to repel shots from Taylor Allen and Nathan Lowe.

Sensing another 30 minutes of extra time or penalties were looming, Evatt brought on extra firepower, but the trio of attacking players had little impact on the game.

Home defender Williams walked from the pitch with a bad head wound after colliding with the advertising boards – an incident which at one point knocked him unconscious. He will have learned about the winning goal en route to hospital.

Wanderers were pushing forward at the time, but Simkin’s clearance was picked up by Lowe, whose ball to Jellis exploited the gap behind Szabolcs Schön. With defenders again slow to react, he had the time to gallop into the penalty area and beat Southwood with a good finish.

Of course, this did not sting to anything like the degree that the Stockport County defeat did a few years ago, and what a strange quirk of fate that Edgeley Park is exactly where Evatt and Bolton are heading next.

Whilst not exactly a ‘free pass’ this result does turn up the pressure dial a notch for next weekend and will almost certainly be mentioned in despatches if the Whites go into the international break on a down-note.

Ricardo Santos got his rest, no further injuries were added but they were the only possible positives to take from another afternoon where standards slipped.

Every player who set foot on the pitch at the Bescot on Saturday afternoon will hope to be a part of a promotion-winning team by the end of the season. From Bolton’s perspective, however, and to coin a lyric from Walsall’s finest, Noddy Holder, this was far, far away.

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The Big Match Verdict: Fundamental issues highlighted by Stockport collapse

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This team’s appetite for self-sabotage really does know no end.

Just when it seemed acceptable to move on, to isolate September’s drama and concentrate fully on a promotion chase, Wanderers have found a way of dragging everyone back down to that place again.

Spectacular fails such as this can no longer be described as isolated incidents. It seems the fate of Ian Evatt and his players is to periodically combust, and usually when the stakes are at their highest. It is a deeply unsatisfactory situation, and you cannot blame supporters for voicing their anger at Edgeley Park.

There are fundamental issues which must now be addressed by Bolton’s hierarchy. They extend beyond the manager, albeit this has all happened on his watch, mutating over the course of 2024. Wanderers now boast an expensive squad, with players who are quite simply not pulling their weight.

Reminiscent of his early days at the helm, Evatt seems to have too many players who are either unable to handle the expectations of playing for a club like Bolton or have become lost in its luxuries.

This team has been given all the indulgences of modern football and has lost its edge as a result. The queue for the treatment room is long, but one might also ask why.

Stockport’s hunger was questioned by their manager, Dave Challinor, in midweek, following a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Wycombe. His players issued the perfect response against Bolton, looking hungry from the first minute and pressing with an urgency their visitors simply couldn’t repel. This felt an all-too-familiar tale, just one played out by the Mersey on a cold November afternoon rather than Wembley in May.

Wanderers had provided some signs that they could mix it up against different styles, with wins at Stevenage, Crawley and Northampton plus the previous league triumph at home to Peterborough helping to restore some of that damaged faith in the past six weeks.

Once again, though, they have managed to tear down mended bridges in one fell swoop. This was a performance which may have been affected by illness in the camp but was certainly not forgiven because of it.

The decision faced by Bolton’s board, for perhaps the third time since May, is whether there is an end in sight. Evatt deserves respect for what he has done to build this club from ground zero into the one which has gone close to Championship football in the last two seasons. In these dark times, let’s not forget there have been some very good ones too.

Is there ample evidence on what we have seen so far this season to suggest this team is going to challenge for the top six again? Or better still, the top two place initially targeted?

If the answer to that question is no, then to delay the inevitable is only going to waste time, money and expend the goodwill built up by the club in recent years to ensure there will be 20,000-plus for the next home league game against Blackpool, regardless.

The previous international break gave Evatt a chance to make changes he felt were needed, swapping captains to bring out better form from Ricardo Santos, chopping Matt Craddock from the first team staff and bringing back Lewis Duckmanton to the dugout. The manager was backed to continue, and he did get a run of results which put promotion back on the table.

But how many times can Bolton’s counter climb the ladders and then hit a snake? It is an exhausting loop which could affect the long-term future of a club that based on so many different metrics, should not be playing its football in the third tier.

This is not a case of supporter entitlement. The club cannot seriously question a fanbase that stuck with them through the darkest days, watched from their laptops in their tens of thousands during Covid, bought season tickets in record numbers on their return to the stadia, and who continue to make Bolton Wanderers one of the biggest deals at this level.

Those who pay to watch are entitled to more than they are getting at the moment, however, and despite the rugged front often presented by the manager, he knows it too.

Post play-off final, Evatt knew he would be treading a fine line and he has withstood a few mighty nudges to try and throw him off-balance so far. Whether this defeat proves the push that sends him tumbling, only a few people in the positions of power can decide.

There is nothing that the board will have witnessed in a second-half capitulation at Stockport which will help the manager’s cause. Already down to a Will Collar goal after a meek and mild first half, Wanderers went into full reverse after the break.

Stockport had already exploited gaps behind Josh Dacres-Cogley – one of the players hardest-hit by the in-camp virus – and given Will Forrester a torrid time as the wider centre-half.

During the second half, County ran riot. Kyle Wooton pounced on a rebound after a marvellous save from Nathan Baxter, Fraser Horsfall headed home a corner, Louis Barry punished a terrible error from Jay Matete and then sub Odin Bailey completed the rout with a low drive late on.

The giant scoreboard which stands on the slim Railway End, it’s outlandish lettering seemingly counting down towards some world-changing event, reflected a seismic scoreline.

Bolton’s players walked apologetically towards the Bolton fans, a good number of whom had pushed to the front of the stand to make their dissenting voices heard. Some of the younger ones looked visibly shocked by what they were hearing.

Evatt had kept a sensible distance, not wanting to antagonise. But he heard every word.

A meeting called by the dressing room after the game shows a vague sense of accountability, but those with experience know football doesn’t really work like that. The man whose head is on the block was the one whose name was chanted in positive terms before kick-off, and in such negative ones, once again, after the final whistle.

This is a cruel and unusual dichotomy that must end before Bolton can escape this division. Whether the board or the players make the next move, only time will tell.

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Big Match Verdict: Wanderers leave it late but win through against Fleetwood

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It won’t change the mood of frustration at Wanderers, nor win over many of the critics which have multiplied since the weekend, but Aaron Collins’ late goal might just have raised the ghost of a smile for some as it booked Bolton’s place in the knockout rounds.

Collins scored twice to keep a plucky Fleetwood side down, in front of the Toughsheet Stadium’s lowest attendance since 2016.

That the gate was so low was primarily down to the public’s nonplussed attitude to the competition, rather than any great rallying against Ian Evatt or the club. The attendance was just 160 down on the previous group game against Aston Villa’s kids.

Those who did turn up watched Wanderers labour until the very end, where Collins’s close-range finish at least ensured they were back home 20 minutes earlier and spared the ignominy of a penalty shootout.

Wanderers made five changes to the side that had started at Stockport, giving midfielder Sonny Sharples-Ahmed his full debut and bringing Gethin Jones in for his first start of the season.

Jones also became Bolton’s fifth different captain of the season, taking the armband from George Johnston, who had done the job at Edgeley Park.

Sharples-Ahmed aside, Evatt resisted the urge to bring B Team players in wholesale, which at least gave some of his seniors a chance to get the weekend out of their system somewhat. From a supporters’ perspective, the agenda will not shift much until Blackpool come to the Toughsheet a week on Saturday, but for the likes of Will Forrester, Jay Matete, Josh Dacres-Cogley and Collins, the opportunity to get back on the horse would surely have appealed.

Over in the Premier Suite, the Champion of Champions snooker event was taking place, so supporters were shifted to the West Stand Lower to make sure there were no unnecessary noises and distractions. By half time, you wondered which event had the more raucous atmosphere.

Bolton didn’t really do much to get the pulses racing. Collins made sure they went in at half time a goal up, a dead-eyed finish from the edge of the box after Randell Williams’ cross was half cleared, but genuinely cohesive passages of play were few and far between.

Victor Adeboyejo brought a good save out of debutant keeper Luke Hewitson, turning an acrobatic volley towards goal from Lolos’s cross, and a deflected free kick from Williams also brought the best out of the teenager, who managed to push the ball around his post despite travelling in the wrong direction.

Sharples-Ahmed won his fair share of duels in a congested midfield. The former Walkden High School pupil was tidy on the ball and certainly didn’t look out of place against a side that has been going well in League Two of late.

Fleetwood also missed a good chance of their own with the game at 0-0, Ryan Graydon scooping Carl Johnston’s cross over the top from 10 yards out.

Otherwise, it was all rather slow and scrappy from the Whites, who did just about enough to be ahead but little to make those hardy few fans who did turn out offer anything other than polite applause as the two sides jogged back down the tunnel.

The visitors were bright at the start of the second half, injecting some much-needed urgency into a game that may well have been moving slower than the snooker next door. One sloppy pass from Williams led to a chance for Harratt, his shot glancing the outside of the post, and then a few moments later another poor ball from ex-Fleetwood man Matete put Bolton on the back foot, Graydon’s shot wrong-footing Baxter and bouncing into the net.

The player’s lack of celebration said it all, this wasn’t a night for getting over-excited. And it was a good job too, as Wanderers’ in-possession play had slowed to a crawl.

So sparse was the crowd that you could pick out the individual groans and moans as the ball refused to stick at the feet of Adeboyejo, or a pass went astray in the middle of the park from Matete. Surely, this week of all weeks, Bolton were not going to serve up a result to make things feel worse than before?

Well, thankfully, they snapped out of their second-half malaise sufficiently to stop the rot and eventually secure the win. But, boy, did they make hard work of it.

With the game finally picking up some pace, a slip from Williams as he attempted to clear a cross with 20 minutes to go presented a decent shooting opportunity for Graydon, thankfully rushed and blasted over the bar.

John McAtee nearly scored with his first touch, clearing the bar after a good cut-back from Jones, who given this was his longest spell of action for several months was moving well.

McAtee then brought an incredible save out of Hewitson with a swerving volley, Liam Shaw doing just enough to clear in front of Collins, who looked favourite to nudge the loose ball over the line.

Graydon then forced Nathan Baxter into a good save at the other end, having been teed up by sub Mipo Odubeko, both sides knowing a goal would probably secure the spoils, and avoid the nuisance of going to penalties.

As the fourth official signalled three minutes of added time, Bolton finally got it right. Sharples-Ahmed clipped a deep cross into the box, helped back by Dacres-Cogley at the far post, and tapped into an open net by Collins for his second of the night.

The final whistle sounded as Fleetwood launched their keeper forward for a succession of corners – a rare note of high drama on a night of little consequence.

And as the match announcer reminded everyone on their way back out of the building, it’s Blackpool up next, where a similar score-line would be celebrated with much more aplomb.

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