JOEL Coleman looks set to be named on the bench as a ‘just in case’ at Northampton Town – but Ian Evatt says his policy of not picking a substitute keeper could continue this season.

The Wanderers boss is mindful that Nathan Baxter is carrying a wrist injury, and so is unlikely to run the risk of leaving a replacement out of the squad at Sixfields.

Coleman has only been present as a back-up in 12 of the 28 league games completed so far, with Luke Hutchinson also picked on three occasions. That left 13 league games where Evatt opted for an extra attacking option on his bench – a policy which has caused some nerves to flutter when team-sheets have been announced before the game.

Evatt accepts that the closer Bolton get to the end of the season, and what they hope will be a successful bid for a top two spot, the more pressure is placed on him to cater for all eventualities.

But with Baxter still to completely recover from the ligament damage he picked up against Barnsley, Evatt admits it is a sensible policy for now to have a spare keeper to call upon.

“It has been a decision I’ve taken ad hoc, week to week,” he told The Bolton News. “We will make a decision based around what we think is best for that game. You obviously know I am not risk averse, I don’t mind if I think there is the right reward. But there is a balance there and we do need to maintain that as best we can for the remainder of the season.

“If you look back through the big games and cup finals, there has always been a keeper there. It is calculated, not done without thought.

“We will make the best decision we can to get us over the line and whether that involves a goalkeeper or not, at the moment I’d think there was a need. Not that Nathan is not fit to play, because he absolutely is, but as you rightly say it is high-risk, high-stakes football now and you have to get the bases covered.”

Northampton were beaten 2-1 at the Toughsheet Stadium back in October, with Wanderers impressing in the early stages but letting their opponents back into the game in the final half an hour.

Dion Charles and Randell Williams scored the Bolton goals, and Evatt learned enough about his opposite number Jon Brady to know the return fixture will not be a simple task.

“We are a scalp for everybody, I think, and Saturday will be no different,” he said. “They have had a really good return to League One football, stabilised really quickly and had some good results.

“Jon is a good guy, a good coach, and I enjoyed spending time and talking to him when they came down here and I met him for the first time.

“I know they will be ready. We need to match all those basics, the energy and intensity, then hopefully our quality will take over.”

Evatt had made a handful of changes in Tuesday’s night’s rained-off match at Cambridge United but says he will stick to the selection plan he already had in mind for Northampton.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Calvin Ramsay and Zac Ashworth were all out of the reckoning at the Abbey Stadium but could be involved once again.

Shaping the manager’s thought process are a number of factors, which could alter right up to the day of the game.

“We have to try and pick a team which we think can win the game and there are a lot of variables in that – the team they pick, the weather, the size of the pitch, type of pitch, and we’ll do our best to get that right for the remainder of the season,” he said. “If we can get it right, I think we have got a squad of players who are capable of achieving what we set out to do at the start of the season.”

Evatt also believes new loan signing Caleb Taylor will get stronger as the second half of the campaign progresses.

“We think he’s a really good player with a good future in the game,” he said of the West Brom centre half. “There was some big money being bid for him in the January window.

“I thought his debut was okay, the first half in particular was good. Second half he got tired and that was down to a lack of football and the intensity of that game in particular, the way we play, and I think as time goes by he’ll get used to that. He will get fitter and stronger, we’ll see the best of him. But I have no doubt he will be a really good player.”