LIAM Edwards has moved a step closer to his long-awaited return from injury.

The Wanderers defender has not featured competitively for the club since January 2020 having fractured his kneecap in a training ground collision.

Edwards was part of the ‘Junior Whites’ side that represented the club in its darkest hour at the start of the 2019/20 season in League One and graduated to become a member of the first team squad under Keith Hill, making seven appearances in all.

He returned to training in January but suffered further complications, leading to an operation to remove a screw inserted into the original injury.

Another potential return in April was paused after a calf issue but Ian Evatt has maintained that Edwards would be given as much time and support as he needed to make a recovery.

It has been a long road back for the 25-year-old but Evatt’s faith was underlined when he was named in Wanderers’ squad rota in September.

And speaking on Thursday, the Bolton boss said he was looking forward to seeing him progress in the next few weeks.

“He has done really well,” Evatt said. “Obviously his sharpness and fitness will get better as we go along but he has coped with what he has done so far and it is great to see him back out there.”

Evatt is also keeping a close eye on the players who are currently out on loan, reviewing their performances for their respective clubs.

Youngsters Adam Senior (Ashton United), Luke Hutchinson (Atherton Colls), Matt Alexander (Lancaster City) and Jay Fitzmartin (Stalybridge Celtic) are currently splitting their time between their parent club and training at Bolton.

The likes of Ali Crawford (St Johnstone), Ronan Darcy (Sogndal) and Reiss Greenidge (Barnet) are currently full-time with their respective clubs.

But Evatt says he is trying to keep abreast of how each individual is faring, making sure they take full advantage of the experience.

“We’re fully up to speed, fully updated,” he said. “I get their games after every time they play. We review it. We go through their clips individually.

“We try to improve them, we get feedback from their coaches and managers. We look at the data. We’re fully on top of what they’re doing and how they’re doing.”