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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
John McDougall

Bolton Wanderers international quartet to return as Dion Charles has big Northern Ireland moment

Four Bolton Wanderers stars are set to return to the League One club after competing for their national sides in the international break.

Wanderers have not been in action for the past fortnight due to having players called up for their national teams. It meant a planned clash for last weekend against Portsmouth has been rearranged for next Tuesday evening.

Ian Evatt's side will be back in action this weekend as they take on Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium as they approach the climax of their League One campaign.

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And a quartet of Wanderers who have been in action for their countries are now heading back to the University of Bolton Stadium.

Dion Charles has been away with Northern Ireland, with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson linking up with Iceland.

Amadou Bakayoko has been playing his first matches for Sierra Leone, while Manchester City loanee James Trafford has been representing England under-20s.

In the final round of action before the League One campaign resumes in earnest, Charles came off the bench for Northern Ireland as Ian Baraclough's side suffered a frustrating 1-0 loss at the hands of Hungary.

The Wanderers striker came on for Josh Magennis and wanted a penalty seconds after coming on as a half-time substitute, going down under a challenge from Adam Lang inside the area.

And he perhaps should have scored deep into stoppage time, but the striker's low shot from five yards was parried away by Hungary stopper Denes Dibusz.

A mistake from Niall McGinn gifted Roland Sallai with a 56th-minute goal and Hungary goalkeeper Dibusz made a string of saves in a frantic finish to give the victory to the visitors.

"I'm disappointed to lose, first and foremost," Baraclough said.

"I felt it was a game where we could have come away talking about a win - the chances we created, how many times we worked the goalkeeper, good chances as well.

"On the balance of play, yes they had more possession, but their chances were from outside the box. I think I remember Bailey (Peacock-Farrell) making one save down to his left and that was all he had to do apart from pick the ball out of the net from a mistake of ours.

"That happens. It's disappointing to make so many chances and not get something from the night... But it's not going to burst our bubble. We can get together in June and go and do well in the Nations League."

Bodvarsson started for Iceland in their 5-0 friendly loss to Spain and was taken off after 67 minutes.

Trafford played the full game as England beat Germany 3-1 thanks to goals from Sam Greenwood, James McAtee and Tyrhys Dolan, with Lazar Samadvic netting what proved to be a consolation.

Bakayoko come off the bench as a 74th minute substitute as Sierra Leone beat Congo 2-1, his third appearance for his national team after grabbing his goal against Liberia.

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