WANDERERS are hoping that full-back Gethin Jones will be back in action by the end of next month.

The full-back was yesterday waiting on the result of scans on a fractured fibula sustained in training which would ordinarily side-line him for six or seven weeks.

But Ian Evatt is keeping his fingers crossed that tests will show Jones can return sooner, and potentially be back available for selection for a busy run to Christmas.

“I was initially told he would be out for a month, best case scenario,” Evatt told The Bolton News. “But we should find out more very soon.

“He is seeing a specialist who will identify exactly how long it will take to heal.”

Ricardo Santos is back from suspension for Saturday’s home game against Gillingham but Evatt is unsure whether he will be able to include left-back Declan John in his squad.

“I don’t know at the moment,” he said. “Declan is improving but whether he is ready in time for Saturday, I don’t know.

“Obviously, Gethin is a big miss for us at the moment, but having Rico back gives us that physicality and presence at the back. He is a bonus and fortunately for us, I don’t think we’ve got any more suspensions and I’m back in the technical area so we’ll have a right go on Saturday and hopefully get a good result.”

Evatt has seen his side crash down to earth over the course of the last three games, which have yielded no points and no goals.

Confidence suddenly appears to be an issue in the squad but the Bolton boss believes the mood could change for the better just as quickly.

“This is football, isn’t it?” he said. “We are talking about a 10 day spell here and we’ve gone from being full of confidence and high on confidence having beaten Charlton comfortably and then Shrewsbury at home, after a fantastic performance and missing chances at Sheffield Wednesday, we’ve now completely lost all confidence, lost belief, lost our composure and we’re making our own problems so we have to regroup, we have to reset, refocus and go again on Saturday.”

Wanderers dropped to 11th spot in the table as a result of the defeat at Plymouth but Evatt is convinced that the lack of form is a temporary problem.

“I think we’ve just got to try and get the confidence back, try and get the belief back,” he said. “We haven’t become a bad team. We’ve just lost our way a little bit and that can happen during a season.

“You can have those spells and these runs. You have to remember where we’ve come from last season and what we actually did in the end, you do go through these spells and it’s down to us to work hard to get out of it as quickly as we can.”