Bolton Wanderers will be seeking to return to winning ways in League One this weekend when they make the short journey to take on Accrington Stanley.
Wanderers lost 3-0 on the road in midweek against Fleetwood Town as Bolton ended the game with 10 men when skipper Ricardo Santos was shown a straight red card.
It means the defender will be suspended for the trip to the Wham Stadium and Wanderers must do without their skipper, but have been boosted by the return to fitness of MJ Williams and Harry Brockbank.
READ MORE: ' Massive' - Bolton Wanderers receive injury boosts ahead of Accrington Stanley clash
And Bolton will be seeking to respond from the disappointing result and performance on the Fylde Coast with a win in East Lancashire.
Ahead of the game, Wanderers boss Ian Evatt spoke to the press and here's a full transcript of what he had to tell broadcasters.
Injury update…
“Surgeries have gone well for Josh and Lloyd, they were very successful. It obviously starts their road to recovery, Lloyd’s will be shorter than Josh’s but they’re not coming back any time soon.
“The positives are that MJ and Harry have come through training fine today and will be available on Saturday.”
It goes without saying, the players, yourself and the whole club will want a response to Fleetwood?
“Yeah. We were upset with Tuesday for many reasons. It was not acceptable and every now and again, we seem to be turning up with these performances and it’s baffling really because we didn’t really see that one coming.
"We felt like we’d turned a corner with some of our recent results, and then bang, it hits you again, but as I said on Tuesday it’s going to be turbulent.
“We’ve suffered heavily with injuries, we’ve got a lack of options, some round pegs in square holes and we’re doing the best we can.”
Does that pile a bit more pressure on to produce the type of response you’d like to see at Accrington?
“We want a response. In terms of pressure, things don’t change. There’s pressure to win football matches week in, week out, it’s as simple as that. Where we’re at, I think we’re nine points or 10 points off the play-offs, and eight or nine points off relegation, so that’s smack in the middle of the league.
“If that’s a big problem to some people then I apologise for that. Last season we were 20th in League Two at this stage, so we have to just focus ourselves and understand that we’re going to take some heat and some flack and some criticism, some of it deserved, some of it not so, but stay focused and concentrated and do the best we can until we can get some bodies back, which they are starting to come back.
"Next week we’ll have some more back as well and we can turn a corner and have a really strong push in the second half of the season.”
Are you still making progress for January and happy with what you may or may not have in place?
“Me and Chris (Markham) have just been sat down for the last three hours going through plans and players and obviously then we’ll produce it to the board and then we’ll make strategic decisions and what’s best for Bolton Wanderers and that’s what we’ll always do.”
Coming up to a really hectic period as well, is that an area of concern given the relative shallow squad that you have to deal with?
“Yeah. As I said three weeks ago, I’m not a prophet but I did say that it’s going to be tough and we’re going to have highs and lows and I still think that’s going to be the case up until Christmas.
"But we need some highs and we need a response from Tuesday, there’s no doubt about that.”
How much would you like the away form to pick up for the next few games on the road ahead?
“Firstly I’d just like to see a better performance than what we saw on Tuesday. We didn’t cover ourselves in any glory at all. We didn’t adapt to the conditions well enough. We didn’t play our usual style and we didn’t play to the conditions.
"We did neither and that’s our own fault. Whatever we do, we have to commit to it and to be honest, we’ve worked very hard in building a brand and identity for 18 months that everyone was proud of and certainly was at the start of the season and we need to get back to that and not be affected by weather conditions or opposition. We have to have firm belief in what we do and do it our way.”
Adam Senior has returned to the club from his York City loan - what kind of player do you have after his spell there?
“Well it’ll do him good. I think he’s done very well in both of his loans. He’s done really well and we’re really pleased with his progress.
"Is Adam ready to play week in, week out, in League One? At the moment the answer is no but he’s back and he’s available and he will help us moving forwards.
"He’s a fantastic person first and foremost, but a very good young player that’s developing all the time, physically he’s fantastic, so we’re happy to have him back and be available for selection.”
How much will it hurt with no Ricardo Santos available?
“Yeah it hurts. Rico’s one of our best players, there’s no two ways about it and if you lose one of your best players, you miss them. But with everything there’s an opportunity for someone else to come in and stake a claim and that’s an opportunity on Saturday that whoever that may be must take.”
With being away from home, how do imagine transitions will go from defence to attack or vice versa when you’re at places like Accrington?
“We have to manage the transitions and you do that from controlling the ball. We haven’t controlled the ball well enough of late, certainly away from home. At home it’s different, I think we’ve been okay at home, but away we’ve come away from dominating games with a football and frustrating the opposition and there’s different ways to control games.
"You can control games in and out of possession but our way is predominantly to control it in possession and we haven’t done that. We need to get back to it.
“I think it’s a game which is going to test our resolve, which wasn’t there on Tuesday, so we must make sure that we do all the above and make sure we play our game in our way and believe in it and back it and commit to it.
"If we do that to the best of our abilities we have a chance of getting a result against anybody in this league, but too often of late we’ve been consistently inconsistent and that’s something that we need to work very hard to sort out and put a stop to. We need some consistency, we want to have consistency, and we need to get back to having our identity and playing style.”
Sharon Brittan is leading a fundraising walk to Accrington this Saturday - how has her preparations been going and how do you think she is going to be feeling ahead of a very noble cause?
“Well I think she’s done some training. Sharon is a wonderful chairman and we’re very lucky to have her. Obviously I’m biased but I think everybody at the football club appreciates what she’s brought here and we shouldn’t underappreciate what she’s done.
"She’s saved this football club and she’s got it moving back in the right direction and it sums it up that she’s willing to do this for a charity and a cause and I hope everyone gets behind her and sponsors her, but in terms of her walking 20 miles she’ll do that comfortably.
"She’s a winner, she wants to win and she’s competitive, so I have no doubt that she’ll probably finish first whoever she’s walking with.”
