Ian Evatt felt that Harry Brockbank performed well in the centre of defence over the weekend for Bolton Wanderers as he highlighted the increased competition he is seeing in the squad for the back four.
Academy product Brockbank played in the middle of defence for Wanderers alongside veteran Alex Baptiste in the victory over Barrow at Holker Street and contributed to keeping a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory.
Oladapo Afolayan's goal before half-time ensured Wanderers maintained an unbeaten record so far in pre-season.
Defence has been an area of the squad which has seen reinforcements arrived over the summer transfer window.
In the heart of defence, Will Aimson and George Johnston have been added to a centre half department which also includes Ricardo Almeida Santos, Baptiste, and Adam Senior.
Brockbank can operate in central defence or on the flanks, particularly the right as competition for Gethin Jones, while Liam Gordon has impressed at left-back since returning from a loan spell at Dagenham and Redbridge to act as an alternative at left-back to Declan John.
And Evatt believes there is real competition at the back now, which was a target in mind when going about play recruitment this summer.
The Bolton boss said: “We’ve got real competition and that’s what we want.
"Liam Gordon is really stepping up to give Dec a fight and Brocky and Gethin - I thought Brock did well at centre back against Barrow - we just miss Rico’s presence really.
"We’ve obviously got Will Aimson and George Johnston missing, so when everyone’s back and firing, we’ve got a really a really competitive squad which is exactly what we set out to have in the summer.”
