Wanderers boss Ian Evatt has challenged Kieran Sadlier to “keep knocking on my door” ahead of this afternoon’s trio to Plymouth.

Evatt had to make the tough call of leaving the versatile wideman out of the side for Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup clash with Premier League Aston Villa.

But the Bolton chief insists he believes in Sadlier and is pleased with the performances he has delivered when called upon.

“Playing him at wing-back in those types of games – the Sheffield Wednesdays and Aston Villas – Sads’ strength isn’t defensive responsibility.

“His strength is going forward and creating. At wing-back, there is a huge amount of defensive responsibility in those games so it is challenging for him in those games to play there.

“We know he is more of a creator and an attacker and probably sees himself as more of a number 10 in this system, possibly even a nine at times but we are blessed with a lot of good players.

“It is competitive but we believe in Kieran. His record in terms of goals and important goals for us has been pretty good.

“I have just told him to keep going, keep working hard, keep knocking on my door and asking me questions. If he is doing that, when he gets his chance he needs to take it. It’s as simple as that.”

Sadlier started the 5-1 win against Salford City in the Carabao Cup and managed to get on the scoresheet.

“When you are an attacker, it is difficult to develop that defensive side of the game," added Evatt.

“The ones we have got – Declan [John], Jack Iredale, Conor Bradley, Gethin [Jones] – they are all full-backs by trade, not wingers or number 10s.

“So it is a huge thing to ask Sads to develop that side of his game, like it would be for Gethin to go and play as a number 10.

“It is challenging. For me, Sads just needs to be himself and there will be times where he is needed in that area if we are chasing a game or playing against lesser opposition where there is less defensive responsibility.

“If not, he wants a shot at playing in those number 10 roles and to be fair to him, he probably hasn’t had that shot yet. That is something we maybe need to look at.”