WANDERERS must not gamble with fit-again playmaker Ali Crawford, says David Flitcroft.

After four months out of action with a knee injury, the Scottish midfielder has started all of Bolton’s last five games – but completed 90 minutes just once, against Accrington.

Crawford was the Whites’ star man in midweek at Burton but assistant boss Flitcroft says the club has to keep a close eye on his condition over the coming weeks to avoid losing him again to injury.

“You can see how much of a massive miss he was to us earlier in the season,” he told The Bolton News. “He is completely different to what we have got.

“To score goals, you need that quality on the pitch that Ali has but we have to be careful.

“We had to take him off (at Burton) because he is guiding us a little bit with how he is feeling and hasn’t had the three reserve games he probably needed after being out for such a long time.

“He is getting that fitness, game understanding and pitch geography back in the first team and we have had three tough games on the bounce for him. So we’re guided by him on how he feels, and today he nodded over to us.

“What we don’t want with him is for a 90-minute performance to turn into an injury, that would be an absolute disaster.”

Crawford provided assists for Ryan Delaney and Ethan Hamilton at Burton and the incisive build up for the second goal in particular is a signpost for how Wanderers want to attack, says Flitcroft.

“It was a great goal,” he said. “You can see when Ali gets on the ball the quality, the touch and feel of the ball he has got, so when Ethan made the strong, aggressive run past him we knew he has the tools to pick him out.

“That is what we want from the wide men, from the strikers, to run in beyond him and he will do the job.

“We missed that kind of guile when he was out injured and especially when you see how innocuous the injury actually was against Manchester City – a game that he absolutely ran the show.”