Can Bolton Wanderers Jon Dadi Bodvarsson make shock Barnsley comeback?

By the time Ian Evatt and his team roll into Barnsley on Friday night it will have been 126 days since the striker played a competitive game, the last of 27 appearances in a hugely frustrating campaign.

An ankle injury sustained in the first half of a 3-0 win against Portsmouth rather summed up Bodvarsson’s luck since he first pulled on a Bolton shirt. Two goals in the previous three games had taken him to eight for the season and earned him four consecutive starts for the first time since he arrived at the club.

Just as he looked to have played himself into good form, one awkward landing effectively ended his season, or had it?

Bodvarsson and defender Jack Iredale have ploughed on with their rehabilitation regardless of the season ticking down to its final weeks, and with Bolton making the play-offs both have talked about the outside possibility they could still be involved, a theory backed up when their manager revealed a return to full training for the pair last week.

While Australian, Iredale, has the security of another two years on his contract with the Whites, Bodvarsson’s deal expires this summer. His popularity among the Bolton supporters is virtually unparalleled within the squad and few – if any – have embraced life in the town quite as readily.

A video circulated last weekend of an impromptu kickabout between the Iceland international and a young Wanderers fan in the car park after the Barnsley game, certainly not the first act of kindness from a player who has represented the club so well off the field, even when times have been difficult on it.

If a fairy-tale return were possible, Barnsley might just be the ideal team to play. Bodvarsson has scored three career goals against the Tykes, making them his most profitable opponents in English football alongside Derby County, Burton Albion and Stevenage.

With the game so finely poised, and a Wembley return so tantalisingly close, some would argue that this is not the time for sentimentality. Evatt does have a big choice to make in the attack he names at Oakwell, and though top-scorer Dion Charles would appear a certain starter, who plays alongside him is a matter of great debate among the fans.

Elias Kachunga was given the responsibility in the first leg. Once again, his hard work off the ball was evident and though Wanderers hardly played to his strengths with an unusually direct approach in the first half, his cleverness with back to goal also resulted in a few free kicks deep into Barnsley territory.

The Whites have won 12, drawn two and lost four of the 18 games Charles and Kachunga have started up front, yielding 27 goals, although it must be said that neither player tends to complete 90 minutes.

Dan Nlundulu is an option somewhat in vogue among Bolton supporters. After a difficult loan spell from Southampton which has been interrupted by injury, he is now showing the kind of form which could well see him return to the club next season in some capacity.

He has partnered Charles only three times from the start since January – one win, two defeats – with the solitary triumph coming at Oxford United.

Had it not been for a superb last-ditch challenge from Tykes skipper Mads Andersen, Nlundulu would probably have been the match winner on Saturday, and his willingness to run at defenders stands out against the other options in Evatt’s squad.

Victor Adeboyejo would certainly have motivation to succeed against his former club.

The Nigerian front man spent five seasons at Oakwell, four of which were in the Championship. He hardly got a kick after coming off the bench on Saturday but has been desperate to show Bolton’s fans why Evatt was keen to invest hard cash on him in January.

He has been used alongside Charles in some tough away trips at Sheffield Wednesday, Burton and Wycombe, where physicality and pace behind the defensive line was needed, and it would not be a huge surprise to see him drafted in from the start on Friday night.

Shola Shoretire offers a slightly different approach, should Evatt decide that a more creative link between the attack and midfield is necessary.

The Manchester United youngster played alongside Charles in a swaggering five-game winning streak during January and February, at a time when he seemed unable to do any wrong. But the pair have not started a game since the 2-0 home defeat to Ipswich Town in March, with Shoretire fighting to regain that earlier verve.

Although the 19-year-old did start against Bristol Rovers, bagging his first senior goal in the process, he had only started one of the previous eight league games – so it seems more likely he would be brought on to change the flow of a match, rather than starting it outright at this point.

The same could be said for a player at the other end of his career, Cameron Jerome, whose only start since signing from Luton Town at the start of the year came against Cambridge United in April.

Jerome has made 10 appearances off the bench and is more often brought on to add know-how and a physical edge to see games out. The 36-year-old has not yet started a game alongside Charles.

But what if Evatt decided to go without his leading scorer altogether? The Bolton boss has named 12 teams without the Northern Ireland international this season and lost only once – at Sheffield Wednesday in August. Much of that absence was down to an early-season thigh injury, although there have been occasions where Charles has been rested, so as not to risk injury.

With 58 appearances under his belt already this season, this has been a gruelling campaign for the striker, especially given his famously tireless playing style. Only Gethin Jones, George Johnston and Conor Bradley have played more minutes among the outfield players.

It seems improbable, however, in a game of such importance that Evatt would start without a player who became the first man to break the 20-goal mark in 22 years.

As ever with the Whites the duo that start the game will almost certainly be replaced during the second half, a boost of energy that Evatt has employed successfully around the 60-minute mark to see out some impressive results away from home.

Wanderers’ return to League One level was categorised by some incredible late comebacks but their playing style at the time was judged unsustainable and has given way to something more controlled, with a tighter defensive shape.

Bolton’s goals have generally been scored earlier this season than last – their average time dropping to 49 minutes from 60 according to soccerstats.com – but they continue to boast a slightly stronger record after half time. Barnsley, by comparison, tend to concede more goals in the second half than they do in the first.

The Tykes also boast the remarkable record of not having won a single game this season in which they did not score the first goal. Only Forest Green and Birmingham City can equal the 0.14 points per game they have gained on such occasions.

Wanderers showed on Saturday, however, that even when they are not playing at their best, they can still hold in there. Charles’s equaliser ensured they became only the fourth team to claw something back against the Tykes when they had fallen behind.