IAN Evatt was delighted with his side’s final dress rehearsal for the League One season – insisting the future is “really exciting” for Wanderers.

George Johnston and Dapo Afolayan scored in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers which ensured the Whites ended pre-season with an unbeaten record.

Lloyd Isgrove and Johnston returned from Covid absences, but Evatt was still without a handful of first team players with just a week to go before the big kick-off against MK Dons.

He was happy, however, with the standard of football his team produced against Tony Mowbray’s men.

“There were loads more positives than negatives. I thought it was a really good game, high quality, felt like a Championship game if anything with the standard of play,” he said.

“I am pleased it ended up that way because if you win a game two or three nil against a Championship opposition you might be a bit overconfident for next week but that just refocuses our mind and lets us know we still have some improvements to make. Monday morning we will come in and standards will be high, we’ll have everyone back so that is pleasing.

“We are missing Ricardo Santos, who is huge for us, Kieran Lee, Nathan Delfouneso, loads of players. Eoin Doyle, George Johnston, Lloyd Isgrove have been training for a day.

“We are going to improve from that, so it is really exciting for me.”

Evatt confirmed the likes of Ricardo Santos, Kieran Lee, Matt Gilks and Nathan Delfouneso will be back on the training ground by Monday after Covid self-isolation.

“They will all be available, but how fit they are is the question,” he said.

“With this, once you do come back you don’t really know how your lungs are going to take to the rigours of training until you start. It has affected some more than others and I haven’t mentioned Matt Gilks, who was huge for us last season.

“Considering we have got half a team out and they have got a strike force with Armstrong valued at £15-20m, Sam Gallagher and all, we have competed really well.

“It is going to be tough to select a starting 11, especially when you get them back but that is what we wanted. You add those names to what we saw there and as a Bolton fan you have got to be excited because that is a strong squad.

“We played some real quality football today and should have won the game but we didn’t, but we didn’t lose it either, which is important.”

Evatt was also appreciative of the atmosphere generated by around 7,000 supporters on the day in what was the first game with fans for 518 days at the University of Bolton Stadium.

“For me, as well as enjoying watching the team play that was the highlight,” he said.

“To have that atmosphere – and both sets of fans made it like that, to be honest – they showed what we have missed, the rivalry, the atmosphere, and the players bounced off it in a game with competitive edge.”