Bolton Wanderers aim to bounce back from their disappointing last league performance, losing 3-1 to Carlisle United, when they take on Northampton Town on Saturday.
To help their cause they will welcome back players that have been missing recently due to injury. This will be a timely boost for manager Ian Evatt.
Bolton have stayed in and around the playoff places, but the injury setbacks have meant they have struggled to find any real consistency. There is always the pressure of being many preseason pundits picks for promotion, and now the squad is getting back to normal, a push for the automatic promotion positions could materialise.
Amongst those due back include Paris Maghoma, Ricardo Santos, and Gethin Jones. With an outside possibility of Carlos Mendes Gomes being available. Dion Charles has been away on international duty with Northern Ireland, and should also be in contention, and has seemingly shrugged off his shoulder injury.
Evatt was reported in the Northampton Chronicle saying. “We said for a few weeks that we might have to just get through this difficult spell and, unfortunately, we couldn’t sign off in the way we would have wanted before the break.
“But I think when you look at the game and how it unfolded, we really missed those players with an X Factor when we wanted someone to dribble, cut through, that is why we signed Carlos and Paris.
Having creative players back is a bonus, but having players to finish off the attacks is even better.
“We have our star striker, who has still managed to score goals but not been himself because of his injury. Any team in this division would suffer with those players out. We have still managed to gain some results but we need them back and we’ll need a bit of the rub of the green to keep them fit too.
“We will take a bit of heat, as we always do, but we need to come back and prove people wrong. We had a little window to freshen things up, get everyone back, and now we can attack that game against Northampton to make sure we are back on track.”
Writer’s View
Bolton are a team that have so far gone under the radar. That may well suit them as they chase the top places. There is a time though that they will want to make a move and put themselves more in contention. The game this weekend against a struggling Northampton Town could be the start of a good run with games at Wycombe Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, and Shrewsbury Town to follow.
