IAN Evatt insists Wanderers will not get carried away by their recent upturn in form.

After securing a third straight win – the first time Bolton have done that in a calendar year – Evatt’s side moved to within four points of the play-offs.

They face improving Scunthorpe United on Tuesday night, followed by a home clash with Southend United the following Saturday which could now be in doubt after the Essex club reported cases of coronavirus which forced the cancellation of their weekend match against Cambridge United.

Evatt believes his side is now starting to gel but refuses to make any bold predictions on where they might go from here.

“All of a sudden, we’ve got everybody back available,” he said. “I’ve got everyone fit and competing and we look a different team and a different squad. But we’re not getting carried away.

“We’ve got a long, long way to go and we know that. We must focus now on Tuesday because we’ve got another big game at Scunthorpe.

“We’re now starting to develop, we’re starting to improve and improve fast, and winning is now becoming a habit, which is good.”

Gethin Jones left the Lamex Stadium with heavy strapping on his right ankle, casting some doubt on his ability to go straight into a game on Tuesday night at Glanford Park.

The former Everton wing-back has been influential in Bolton’s mini-revival, playing on the left side of the midfield, and Evatt has been delighted with his return to the side.

“Credit to him because he’s been out six weeks, trained a week and played two 90 minutes at a very high level of intensity,” he said. “We ask a lot from our wing backs in terms of their data and how much they have to run and he’s still hitting the metric, which is credit to him and the way he looks after himself. He’ll only improve.

On the strapping, he added: “I think that’s just tiredness and he’s entitled to be tired to be honest. We can’t really single out individuals because it’s more of a team effort and a team performance but I’m delighted with the way we’re going.”

Wanderers’ improvement has also coincided with a change in goalkeeper, with veteran Matt Gilks replacing youngster Billy Crellin.

The former Scotland international came up with a top drawer second-half save to deny Tom Pett an equaliser at Stevenage and has now been on the winning side in each of his two outings for the club.

“I’d have caught it,” Evatt smiled. “Just simply his voice and his communication and his game experience is helping us at the moment. All season our goalkeepers haven’t really been overworked. We haven’t really conceded many chances to the opposition, we just seem to get punished for a lot of them. All of a sudden, Gillo’s voice is helping organise, helping the defence switch on and it can only bode well for us moving forward.”