THERE will be wind, there will be rain and there certainly will not be any red carpet rolled out for Wanderers when they get to Fleetwood tonight.

One of League One’s most spartan tests awaits Ian Evatt and his side as they look to finish 2023 on a victorious note, and potentially move back into the automatic promotion places.

The coaching staff have had one eye on the weather forecast as Storm Gerrit wreaks havoc around the UK, with ex-Blackpool man Evatt well aware of what effect it can have on football on the Fylde Coast.

But there is one upside for Bolton as they go back to Highbury, admits the Wanderers boss.

“Well, we’re not facing Carlos Mendes Gomes this time, which is nice,” he told The Bolton News. “That is a start.

“Fleetwood is always challenging, always difficult. I played just down the road for a long time and I know what the weather is like. I know how to deal with the wind and rain you can get in that neck of the woods.

“Again, it is about us focusing on us, focusing on what we do well. I thought Lincoln was a very good performance and so if we can replicate that then we will have a very good chance.

“At this type of place you have to do the basics really well, and then hopefully we have enough quality to have a moment, or some moments, that we can take.

“Fundamentally, you have to get the simple stuff right – that means defending your box, winning first contacts, second balls, defending set plays well. If you do that really, really well then you have a good chance of winning because we back ourselves to have some good quality moments where players can express themselves and get us a goal or two.”

Wanderers have, in fact, lost only one of nine competitive meetings with Fleetwood, home or away.

Evatt was in charge that night – another rain-swept December night in 2021 – but made amends the following year when late goals from Conor Bradley and Dapo Afoolayan sealed a famous comeback victory.

But do managers really have grounds where they feel more comfortable, and those which hold an unexplained feeling of unease?

“I’m trying to think of places we have been walloped… I don’t think there are many,” he said.

“It is strange how it works. We were having this conversation earlier, how you coach and manage at different stadiums and how good results kind of correlate – Lincoln being one. There is a good feeling at that ground over the last few years.

“Portsmouth is maybe one we don’t enjoy, being honest, so thank God that is out of the way now!

“It is psychology and probably something you should avoid thinking about, but it is certainly there.

“Superstitions are huge in football and that is probably one.”