WANDERERS have virtually their whole first team squad available for the season opener against MK Dons – but Ian Evatt admits he may still have to make concessions.

The likes of Ricardo Santos, Kieran Lee, Eoin Doyle and Matt Gilks are now back on the training ground for the Whites after missing a chunk of pre-season through Covid but aside from Xavier Amaechi – who is recovering from a fractured metatarsal – and long-term absentee Liam Edwards, Evatt has his pick for this weekend’s game.

Conditioning remains an issue for the Bolton boss, however, and he will be looking carefully at how his players manage the remaining couple of days at Lostock.

“We have had a great week’s training,” he said. “Everyone is available apart from Xav, everyone has returned and been training, so it’s all systems go.

“But that doesn’t mean to say they are available to play. There is a difference.

“We will monitor the training, monitor the data, the energy levels, then make a final decision on Saturday but not everyone is ready to play at the intensity levels that they will need in the league.”

Deciding which of his first team players are ready to face an expansive, possession-based side like MK Dons has also been a tough decision for Evatt.

“Predominantly we will be trying to play the guys who have missed the least time in pre-season because we think they will be physically able to do the job,” he said.

“But as a manager you have always got a couple of parrots on your shoulder and one of them is saying one thing, the other the opposite.

“It is about balancing the two to come out with the best possible decision.

“Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and for this game in particular I have had to take the emotion out of it and think about the season, the future, and what taking risks this Saturday could mean for the football club. It hasn’t been easy but I think it’s the right thing in the longer term.”

Evatt says he has a line-up in mind and has been working with the relevant players on the finer points of his gameplan this week.

“Strategically we have been doing it in dribs and drabs over the last few weeks but this week it has been more detailed and what we think we’ll face in and out of possession,” he said.