IAN Evatt has had longer to consider his gameplan for MK Dons than he will for any other game this season but will a late change of manager in the opposite dugout throw a spanner in the works?

Russell Martin’s abrupt departure to Swansea City last weekend will leave MK in the hands of their most senior player, Dean Lewington, when they visit the University of Bolton Stadium.

The 37-year-old full-back has been with the Dons since they uprooted the old Wimbledon club and headed 50 miles north to Buckinghamshire in 2004. He has already distanced himself from taking the job full-time but will nevertheless be charged with getting the club off to a good start in a division where they had been tipped as dark horses for promotion by some.

Evatt knows what it is like to switch from player to coach in an instant. As a senior member of the Chesterfield dressing room in 2018 he was asked to see an already-relegated team through the final three games. By his own admission, he was ill-prepared at the time, but the experience did whet his appetite for management and just a couple of months later he was approached to take over at Barrow.

“It was a slightly different situation for me than it will be for Dean because we were already relegated out of the Football League and it was a tragic situation, really, a hiding to nothing,” Evatt told The Bolton News.

“This is different, it’s a start of a new campaign, and the club has recruited heavily in the summer to get some very talented players.

“On the other hand it is nerve-racking because those players will be used to having him as a team-mate and crossing over that line is sometimes challenging on how they view you.

“He is a very experienced player and I am sure he will deal with it well and have the team prepared for Saturday.”

Under Martin, MK Dons earned a reputation for being one of League One’s most expansive sides. Viewed by some as risk takers, the policy was starting to pay off last season as they went on a solid run from February onwards to finish 13th in the table.

There are similarities in Evatt’s own brand of football and that has given him plenty to think about in the last few weeks as the opening weekend inched ever closer.

“This is probably the game you’d want first because it does give you time to analyse,” he said.

“They do things very differently, the way they play out from the back, the way they rotate and move, it is quite technical and detailed, so you need to spend time working on your pressing strategy and how we go about the game.

“There are two teams here trying to dominate possession but we are not both going to be able to do it.

“We are not looking to change our approach and I’d guess neither will they, so it is an interesting game. It will be technical and hopefully we will get our decisions right.”

Evatt has also spoken at length about the Covid issues which accrued towards the end of pre-season, leaving some of his key players potentially under-prepared for the new campaign.

Barring Xavier Amaechi and Liam Edwards, the whole squad was back on the training ground by Monday, although Saturday may well come too soon for the likes of Matt Gilks, Eoin Doyle and Ricardo Santos.

Evatt has also set his targets high this season, aiming to use last season’s promotion from League Two as a springboard for another.

“At the moment it’s about focussing on the next challenge. We have goals, I have spoken about them all summer, but for now it’s about attacking that next game,” he said.

“Last season it was February that we managed to get our act together and managed to get on a run to get promoted, so whether we win, lose or draw on Saturday it won’t dictate if we go up or not. But we want to start the right way and carry on momentum from last season and I think we will improve as we go along, especially with what we faced over the summer. We have a healthy squad now and one that is competitive but one we’re also looking to add to as well.”