Ian Evatt reckons Shola Shoretire will recover from the most infuriating outings of his young career – and take his anger out on Peterborough United today.

The Manchester United playmaker found the going tough on a poor pitch against ultra-defensive Cheltenham last week but Ian Evatt is confident his loan prodigy will learn from the experience.

Wanderers are unlikely to come up against the same dour tactics at Posh, who are themselves chasing down a play-off position, and may look to the Old Trafford teen for some inspiration.

“You could see last week that Shola was doing everything he could to get some space, but there just wasn’t any when you had 10 men behind the ball,” he told The Bolton News.

“We have to ask ourselves – how do we create space for him? And I think having been through that, we can figure it out. That is the next step in this team’s evolution.

“Shola has shown bright moments in all three games so far, he really is a talented young player, and he will learn from that game and add it to his repertoire.”

Evatt has been impressed with how quickly his January signings have taken to the club, particularly over the last week – where some vital details have been passed on in advance of a hectic February which still has six games scheduled.

Luke Mbete could get his first taste of action at Peterborough today as the Whites shuffle their defensive line to cater for Conor Bradley’s suspension.

The manager is also encouraged that his captain, Ricardo Santos, is showing signs of hitting top form and fitness, having missed six weeks of football over Christmas because of illness.

Facing his former club Peterborough, and one of the division’s top marksmen, Jonson Clarke-Harris, the defender has also impressed some of Evatt’s new arrivals.

“Last week I saw Rico getting back to his best, he was outstanding, imperious, in fact,” the manager said.

“We shouldn’t underestimate just how good he is. And I know Rico is looking forward to going back there and showing everyone what he can do and what he has become.

“He does carry confidence and swagger. Even some of the newer players are amazed at how much of a specimen he is, how fast he is. It is really funny listening to them sometimes – we were at Charlton and Dan Nlundulu was sat with Kacha in front of Chris Markham and there was one stage where it was Rico v Macauley Bonne and half a pitch. Rico won the race and Dan turned round to Chris and said: ‘Whoah! How is he that fast, bro?’ In the way only he would.

"It was just a surprise to him that a player of that size can shift as fast as he does.

“Luke Mbete has even commented on it since he came in, the fact we leave him one v one with half a pitch sometimes. We trust him – he has never let us down.

“Him against Clarke-Harris will be worth watching, I’m sure. He is a good player, so is Rico, but we have to win many of those battles if we are going to get the right result at Peterborough.”