Ian Evatt admitted there were tears when Bolton Wanderers midfielder Josh Sheehan discovered his season was over due to injury and has called for all to lend their support in his recovery.
The midfielder has scored four goals in 19 games this season for Bolton after joining the club in the summer from Newport County and has been one of the stars of the season so far for the League One club.
The midfielder was taken off injured in the midweek FA Cup loss to Stockport County and Evatt confirmed that the Wales international has suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate knee ligament.
READ MORE: Bolton boss Ian Evatt on Wycombe loss and injury blows for Sheehan, Williams and Bakayoko
He will be out of action for nine months and means his season is over.
Evatt revealed an emotional phonecall in the week with the midfielder and that tears were shed that he is out of action for the foreseeable future.
But Evatt wants all to rally round the midfielder in light of the dreadful news as he wished him all the best in his recovery.
He said: “He is absolutely devastated. I spoke to him Thursday night and there were tears on the phone.
“The club and the players will support him but he needs the fans to support him as well because it is a long road ahead.
"There will be challenging times ahead but he is a lovely kid with a great attitude and we wish him all the best.”
On the pitch yesterday against Wycombe Wanderers, the Whites suffered a slender 1-0 loss at Adams Park.
Bolton were made to pay however for a lack of clinical finishing in Buckinghamshire as Sam Vokes' header proved the difference between the two sides, though Joel Dixon saved a first half penalty from Anis Meheti.
Chances fell to the likes of Dapo Afolayan and Elias Kachunga during the encounter but were not taken in an encounter that Evatt felt neither side deserved to lose.
Wanderers now sit 13th in the League One table and have won only one game in the division in their last seven outings in the third tier of English football.
And Evatt has called for some perspective when analysing the campaign so far, given the depths that Wanderers plummeted to last season in League Two.
He said: “We had chances, big ones, Dapo had two big chances, Kacha had one at the end and there were a couple of other situations where defenders have got good blocks in.
“It was a competitive game, a good game, and I don’t think either team deserved to lose.
"When we lose games we are all disappointed and no-one was more disappointed than me and the players on Wednesday and I thought we got a great reaction today.
“We need everybody’s support. This is tough and challenging for everybody but we have been through worse. People can get carried away with recent results or where we are in League One – by the way, we were 20th in League Two last season.
“So let’s have a bit of perspective and see how far we have come in a short space of time. We were 20th in League Two in January this year, now we’re mid-table in League One.
“We know we can better and that there are things to work and improve on. We know January is just around the corner. But for now the players need your support, I need your support, I think we have earned that.
“We are competitive in every game. We were woeful on Wednesday but we were still competitive – we lost the game in extra time, not 90 minutes.
“We looked more defensively solid today and did the ugly side really well but we just didn’t take our chances in the final third, it isn’t like we didn’t create anything.
“They have just come down from the Championship and they are a team that has been together a long time. They ask you loads of questions and we have been asked of late if we can be competitive and play against teams that do that to us – today I think we showed we can."
