JAK Hickman left Wanderers last week with a glowing recommendation from manager Ian Evatt.

The former Coventry City defender joined National League King’s Lynn Town on loan for the rest of the season after dropping down the pecking order at the UniBol.

Hickman made seven appearances in the first half of the season but was not registered with the EFL beyond January after a mid-season shake-up of the squad.

The 22-year-old had won over the Wanderers fans with some of his early displays, putting behind him the negativity which had followed his exit at Coventry.

Evatt said the decision to let him leave had been made on footballing grounds – with Gethin Jones, Harry Brockbank nailing down the right-back berth in recent months.

“I wish Jak all the best,” he said. “He is a fantastic lad and he’s grown a lot and he has learned a lot during his life.

“He came through adversity and learned how to deal with it, and how to deal with negativity and adversity and come out a better person more than anything else.

“I hope he goes away and plays the football he needs to play and shows everyone what he can do.”

Hickman was not in the King’s Lynn Town squad which lost 3-0 at Woking at the weekend.

The club is currently 21st in the National League table and managed by former Norwich City defender Ian Culverhouse.

Meanwhile, Evatt has explained some of the confusion at the start of yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Bradford, where referee Leigh Doughty ordered the kick-off to be retaken.

The Bolton boss explained that players did not know whether they were taking the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Half the team thought it was taking the knee and half didn’t, and the ref just didn’t communicate it as he normally does,” he said. “There was a lot of confusion. Luckily, he saw sense to stop the game because their lad was on top of Rico (Ricardo Santos) quickly!”