NATHAN Delfouneso hopes the return of strike partner Eoin Doyle will be the boost Wanderers need to rescue their season.

All signs point to the Irish striker making his comeback from a hamstring injury in Friday night’s televised game against Salford City.

A win against Bradford City in Doyle’s absence proved a false dawn for Ian Evatt’s side, who have since bowed out of the FA Cup to Crewe, been hammered in the rain at Leyton Orient, and ground out an unconvincing draw at home to Mansfield Town.

Delfouneso believes that Doyle’s presence on the training ground this week has already had a positive effect on the squad, however, which has been priceless at a time when the grey clouds have once again been gathering above.

“The thing is with Doyler, he doesn’t just bring goals to the team, it’s a whole different energy,” he told The Bolton News. “When he’s around, it is a different place, so I’m excited to have him back out there.

“He’s influential on and off the pitch for us because you pick up on that energy and it might give a few that boost, that little bit more which has been lacking.

“I know what he’s capable of doing, he’ll score goals all day long, and in a big game like this you need someone like him in the team.

“I know from experience he could not wait to get back out there because he’s been running around telling everyone – but, really, I am looking forward to getting that partnership firing again.”

The team-sheet on Friday evening will be among the most eagerly anticipated of any in recent memory at Wanderers, such is the debate among supporters on how Evatt can change his team to achieve more consistent results.

Some of the squad’s youngest players, Liam Gordon, Billy Crellin, Tom White and Peter Kioso have found their recent form questioned, leaving the manager with some big decisions to make over the next couple of days.

Delfouneso earned his spurs playing in the UEFA Cup for Aston Villa, graduating to the Premier League side within his first season, gaining experience from the likes of Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Ashley Young and James Milner.

He now finds the boot on the other foot, and as one of senior members of the Bolton squad, he is looking to pass on the right advice to the younger members of the dressing room.

There will be no shortage of support – and Delfouneso underlined the message from team-mate Ricardo Santos earlier this week that the squad intends to stick together amid criticism of their recent performances.

But the 29-year-old is under no illusion that Wanderers cannot wait forever for Evatt’s style of football to sink in.

“I think senior players like me do have to recognise that some of the lads are relatively new to this type of situation and we have to do what we can to help them through it – but let’s not kid anyone, we can’t hang around,” he said.

“This is a club with ambition to get as high as it possibly can, and we have got to get there together. It can’t be a few players one week, a few players the next.

“I know it is a learning process for some of the younger ones but football is hard, it is a tough business, and the bottom line is that those lessons have to be learned quickly.”

Some harsh truths have been revealed over the course of the first 11 games and the pressure of playing for Bolton Wanderers has not necessarily sat well with every member of the dressing room.

Delfouneso remains confident, however, that the players who are currently going through the mill can – as some already have – come out better from the experience.

“I honestly think we will get there,” he said. “There are details to iron out and it hasn’t happened as quickly as we wanted it to but we’re at a stage now where we know what we need to do, it just needs to be done on a more consistent basis.

“The important thing, for me, is that I believe in the squad and the staff. I do believe we can get better results and that things will improve. But all of us have to be mentally stronger, it can’t be like it has been and when one goal goes in, or a mistake is made, the heads go down. Good teams don’t do that.

“Physically, psychologically, we need to go up a level to achieve what we want to this season.”

The idea of a Bolton-Salford footballing rivalry would have been unthinkable until recently but Delfouneso believes the two clubs ambitions means an element of competition is unavoidable.

In mid-November just 13 years ago, Salford put five past Shildon in the FA Vase Second Round in front of 212 people at Moor Lane, while still playing in the North West Counties League.

The same week, Nicolas Anelka scored the only goal of the game as Gary Megson’s Wanderers defeated Manchester United at the Reebok – the first home victory over their long-time local enemies since December 1978.

“I know it’s the first time that the two clubs have played competitively,” Delfouneso said. “But there might be a bit of rivalry there.

“Both teams have got ambitions of promotion, both teams have got high expectations of where they want to be, so it will be a pretty big game and, personally, I like that.

“We have got to turn up on the night, pure and simple. We have got to produce the goods.”

The TV cameras have not been at the UnBol since last October for a 0-0 draw against Blackpool, a game Delfouneso had to watch from the side-lines having picked up a hamstring injury a few weeks earlier for the Seasiders at Gillingham.

Having played on the biggest stage with Aston Villa and Blackpool, the national spotlight is no longer a concern. But Delfouneso believes the extra attention could work in Bolton’s favour if they manage the occasion right.

“I enjoy these games because there is a different feel about them,” he said. “There won’t be any fans in the stadium, which is hard to get used to, but you know that there’s a bigger audience out there and that a good result can feel even better.

“Again, it comes back to mentality and using that pressure to push yourself, to embrace it.

“We know we haven’t got off to the best start, we know that we have to do a lot more out there to put things right. But this is the sort of big occasion that should give you a natural lift.

“We’ve said it time and time again, one result can kickstart the season. And so far it hasn’t happened. But it only has to happen once and you have to keep believing in yourself, in your team. It has happened before and it will happen many times again where teams just click into gear and suddenly all the trouble and bad times are forgotten about.”