Ian Evatt admitted he had considered a full rotation of his Bolton Wanderers squad for their FA Cup defeat to Walsall this weekend.
The Trotters were dumped out of the competition by their lower-league opposition, marking the fourth time in five years that Ian Evatt’s side had been knocked out in the first round.
The Saddlers fought back late on with Jamie Jellis sealing a winner for the League Two side, earning a second-round tie against Charlton Athletic in the process.
“Our Fans Deserved To See Us Compete”
Speaking to the Bolton News, Evatt revealed that the squad that travelled to Bescot Stadium nearly looked different and considered playing none of his first team in the match.
“What stopped me is that I thought our fans deserved to see us compete, deserved for us to give it our best shot.
“I have tried to almost sit on the fence in terms of making changes and resting key personnel and also going to win the game competitively against a side that is going really well in the league and have a really challenging way of playing. It would have been really tough on the kids and I don’t think they are ready for this.
“It was a tough draw and I know they are from the league below but if we had our squad available we would have looked a lot different, I am confident of that.”
Bolton are in the midst of an injury crisis, with eight of the usual first-team squad unavailable to play Stockport County on Saturday before a quick turnaround to their final EFL Trophy group game against Fleetwood Town in the following midweek.
Writer’s View
Ian Evatt was right to play some of his senior players in the game against Walsall. It would have been extremely unfair on the academy players to be thrown in at the deep end against an in-form Saddlers and also would have been a massive letdown to fans had they not brought any of their star players to compete. Ultimately they lost either way and now have the added bonus of being able to focus on League One where many of their peers will play in the second round of the FA Cup.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
