Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt hints at outfield player as emergency keeper option

For several weeks, the Whites have gone without a reserve goalkeeper on the bench in favour of an extra attacking option.

Evatt has argued that the risky strategy has enabled him to make better attacking changes in the latter stages of games – but the policy has been questioned by some sections of the fanbase.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s game against Walsall, the Bolton boss admitted that Harry Brockbank has been filling-in as a supplementary goalkeeper and could – in an emergency – be used as a replacement for Gilks, who has been ever-present since November.

“Harry has had the gloves on this morning in training, we’ve all been taking free kicks and penalties at him and he’s the man who has stepped up for the job,” Evatt said.

“Just because I haven’t put a keeper on the bench yet, does not mean to say that I will never do it.

“There will be games there that I will deem the risk to be greater than the reward and a keeper will be put on the bench.

“Now, when that is, you will have to figure that one out for yourselves, but for now, we are happy with where we are at.”

Evatt says the players have returned to the training ground in good spirits after a few days of much-needed rest.

Wanderers had played 10 games in 32 games before the weekend, claiming 29 points, and there had been signs of wear and tear during the game at Port Vale.

“We have obviously had a free week for the first time in a long time but the players were out on their feet on Saturday, really fatigued,” Evatt said. “The data was down to what we expect from our data guidelines and expectations in terms of distances and speed endurance wasn’t there on Saturday and I think that was just down to tiredness.

“We have had to give them time to recover and we have trained full tilt for the first time this morning really and they were excellent. The quality, the tempo, the intensity, the belief, the confidence is all there, and we have to keep that going.”