IAN Evatt has explained the absence of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Calvin Ramsay and Zac Ashworth from his matchday squad in last night’s abandoned game at Cambridge United.

Wanderers made four changes for the game at the Abbey Stadium, which was called off after just nine minutes of play because of a waterlogged pitch.

Evatt had discussed “complications” on the injury front before the game – and is understood to have had concerns over a wrist injury sustained by goalkeeper Nathan Baxter during the 1-1 draw against Barnsley.

And bringing Joel Coleman into the squad as cover left the Bolton boss with a choice on his hands.

“To be honest, we felt the need to have a keeper on the bench, which changed things,” he said of his selection for the game.

“With Calvin Ramsay and Zac Ashworth both returning from injuries and having played quite a bit of football over the last few weeks, there was a red flag on the data to say ‘be careful’. We decided to rotate them.

“And because of the keeper I couldn’t have my three strikers on the bench. We felt with the conditions that we’d need to go with the other two – Jon understands it, he’s a team player, it could be different on Saturday at Northampton but it is very much a case of rotating depending on the opponent.”

Aaron Collins had worked well with Bodvarsson after entering the game in the second half on Saturday and there was speculation before the game as to whether the deadline day signing would be given the nod up front.

Evatt explained why he had started at Cambridge on the bench.

“We were looking at the weather forecast all day and then see Burton and Cheltenham fall by the wayside and I was thinking about what players are going to suit those conditions,” he said.

“Aaron is still getting used to us. He is going to be a big player but he needs to be used to the structure and how we do things. It will take some time but you saw the impact he can have on Saturday.

“We have a really good group of players. It is my job to keep them happy number one, and then number two pick a team that can win football matches.”

Wanderers go to Northampton Town on Saturday with further rain and snow forecast before the weekend.

Weather issues have already made life difficult on the training ground this season and Evatt admits the condensed fixture list ahead will test his side to the limit.

“That is the challenge for us, time on the grass really is limited so we have to use other modes of learning. We have lots of team meetings, unit meetings, video learning, just to try and get over what we’d normally do on the grass,” he added.

“It is the price of doing well in the cup competitions, it is the price of having international footballers. We have a fixture backlog now but we have a squad that can cope with it.”