RONAN Darcy still has to prove to Ian Evatt he is worth a start in the Wanderers side.

Saturday’s performance 2-1 home defeat to Oldham Athletic was branded as “gutless” by the Bolton head coach, who has now lost seven of his first nine games in charge.

Calls have intensified for him to give an opportunity to Darcy, who was an unused substitute at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Academy graduate Darcy has featured just once for the Whites this season, playing 90 minutes against Shrewsbury Town in the EFL Trophy.

He featured regularly in League One last season, making 24 appearances in all competitions, and after the Oldham game Evatt explained his rationale for not putting him on the pitch.

“He’s always in my thinking – you make match decisions you think will win you the game but it didn’t work that way,” he said.

“Everyone is banging on to me about Darcy but, for me, if they want to get in this team then they have got to do more in training.

“People that are clamouring for players to be played are not there day-to-day. I pick teams on what I see in training and you have to train better than everyone else if you want to be in this team.”

Evatt made three changes from the side which drew against Grimsby Town at home a week earlier and with Peter Kioso making his debut, Wanderers have now used 23 different players this season. Only Southend United, with 25, have used more.

“It’s OK saying you need an established 11 but they have to deserve their shirt and at the moment there’s too many that are not doing enough to keep it, simple,” Evatt added.

“Peter has only trained with us a couple of days, it’s going to take some time for him to settle down and get used to how we do things but I did see some positive signs from him today.

“I thought Ryan Delaney was a positive, his performance was very good, but the rest were not good enough.

“They can make excuses, as footballers are very good at, but the facts are when we look in the mirror, all of us are not doing enough at the moment.”