ALI Crawford is close to severing ties with Wanderers completely and sealing a permanent move to St Johnstone.

The Scottish midfielder has not played for Bolton since the end of January, when he was sent out to League Two rivals Tranmere Rovers on loan.

He has since revitalised his fortunes North of the Border, starting 10 games in the Scottish Premiership for the Saints.

Wanderers are looking to clear space in their budget for new signings and Ian Evatt has not ruled out more departures next month as he looks to boost his squad.

Asked if Crawford was close to agreeing a contract with St Johnstone, the Bolton boss said: “I believe so, I believe that’s progressing and Ali could leave us permanently, but nothing is finalised yet.

“There will be lots of, as you can imagine, comings and goings in January, but we have some very important games before that to get us to that point.”

Wanderers return to the UniBol this weekend to host Wycombe after successive defeats at Accrington and Fleetwood.

They will have a chance to avoid setting a club record for successive away games without scoring when they travel to Burton Albion on December 29 – but until then will look to continue a reasonable campaign on home soil.

Playing at the UniBol presented some problems in League Two last season but since promotion only Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United have walked out with three points.

Scoring goals has proved problematic on the road, and Evatt concedes that his side’s finishing has to improve if they are going to climb the table.

“I think the most important part of our away form is taking opportunities when you get them away from home,” he said.

“Chances are always more limited than when you play at home, so when you do create them, you have to take them, and I don’t think we’ve taken them enough in all games this season.

“We took them at Wimbledon and took them at Charlton and took them at Ipswich, and we probably created as much at Sunderland, as much at Sheffield Wednesday, and we should have scored three first half at Accrington, so it isn’t the chances we have created, “It is just we are not taking the opportunities and that is the difference between opposition keeping clean sheets at home to us or not. It is really simple - we just have to be better in front of goal.”