Weekend disruption to the fixture calendar may have played into BoltonWanderers’ hands as they prepare to face MK Dons tomorrow night.
Ian Evatt had been working towards a game at Cheltenham up until Friday lunchtime, when it was confirmed by the EFL that all fixtures were to be cancelled as a mark of respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
But once the decision was made, the Bolton boss was able to switch focus back to MK and a style of opposition similar to that of his previous opponents, Charlton Athletic.
Wanderers impressed in victory against the Londoners a weekend earlier and Evatt hopes his side can carry on in a similar vein, now that the league has confirmed Tuesday's fixtures will go ahead.
“I think MK will be similar to the way they were last season,” he said. “They are an attractive team and play good football. In possession there is lots of rotation, movement, they are brave on the ball and we will respect them.
“Fortunately for us, it is quite similar to the Charlton game in terms of their style of play, so it will be a similar sort of gameplan.
“If we can bring the same sort of performance, be really aggressive, win the ball with high regains and then punish them in the moments we create.
“Tuesday night will show whether we get it right or wrong but I am looking forward to the game.”
Wanderers trained on Saturday, playing an inter-squad full-sided game at Lostock, and go into Tuesday’s game sitting eighth in the table.
With Peterborough United due at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday, Evatt knows this could be a big chance to put down a promotion marker.
“I think if we can win these next two games, it will have been an excellent start to the season and we will be more or less bang on target.
“I know it sounds strange, but this week defines whether it has been an average start or a good start and hopefully we can get the points required to get a very good start and we can kick on from there.”
MK Dons have already lost four of seven games in the league this season, and despite being tipped as one of the promotion favourites sit 18th in the table as things stand.
The club made 14 new signings in the summer to compensate for the loss of Troy Parrott, Harry Darling and Scott Twine, and while Liam Manning’s new look side does appear to be taking time to settle, Evatt is reluctant to get over-confident.
“They have had a topsy turvy start to the season and been a bit inconsistent but they’ve lost some very good players and replaced them and replacing them takes time for them to implement their idea and style of play.
“They have also had some excellent performances away at Morecambe, I watched that game, and had some indifferent ones as well, but we know it’s always going to be a challenge.”
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