RICARDO Santos will be a big miss for Wanderers heading into the final stages of the season, admits Ian Evatt.

The defender was forced off at half time with a hamstring injury against Portsmouth and Evatt fears he could miss the remainder of the campaign.

The Bolton boss says there is no sense in taking risks at this stage of the season but admits they may have to make tweaks to cope without their skipper.

“There is nobody that would speak more highly of Rico than me,” he told The Bolton News.

“Any team outside of the Premier League would miss Rico in my opinion. He is a fantastic young man and a fantastic player.

“We are going to have to tweak things now because, especially when we are attacking, we cannot afford just to leave someone one-v-one with half the pitch anymore without Rico being there.

“We will have to probably be a bit smarter with our decision-making, when to move forwards and who we keep back.

“It is nothing too serious, it is just a regulation hamstring (injury). But there are only four weeks left of the season and we do not really need to be taking any risks with him.”

George Johnston has gone from strength to strength since the Whites switched to a back three earlier this year.

Evatt has been impressed with the former Liverpool youngster and feels he has come a long way since the start of the campaign.

He added: “I think George has been a huge positive. People forget he is a really, really young player.

“He has not played a lot of football – this is his first full season in men’s football. I think the way he has progressed through the season has been really good.

“He has had dips, but young players do – they all do – and we have to respect that.

“In particular, I have been over the moon since we moved to the back three, and in the last two games he has been outstanding so credit to him.”

The Bolton chief opted to start Kyle Dempsey alongside Aaron Morley in midfield against Pompey, with MJ Williams dropping to the bench.

He insists Williams has done “nothing wrong” but says it is important to adapt depending on the opposition.

“Each game provides different challenges and we have to look at the right player for the right occasion – they all have different strengths,” Evatt explained.

“Then it is down to picking the right ones for the right games. We went with Aaron and Kyle on Tuesday.

“MJ has not necessarily done anything wrong, it is just about rotating and having a look at different things – what works and what does not.

“We have got that luxury now and we will be doing that for the remainder of the season - tweaking things and seeing how we get on.”