Ian Evatt won’t allow Wanderers to contemplate rest and relaxation until after the final whistle has blown at Tranmere on Tuesday night.

Although the Whites face an 11-day break before their next competitive match against Lincoln City the Bolton boss is keen to add a second victory – and almost certain qualification from the group – in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Lloyd Isgrove’s niggling foot problem has improved, giving him a chance of starting his first senior Bolton game since last November, and Evatt is expected to make a raft of changes from the team that had battled to victory against Peterborough on Saturday.

But Evatt does place some importance on the competition, with last season’s exit at League Two Hartlepool United still a bone of contention.

“I will definitely pick a strong team,” he told The Bolton News. “In fact, any 11 that I pick at the moment will be really strong because we have a lot of good young footballers who are ready to play, itching to play, and that is a good thing.

“Lloyd is back as well, so we have plenty of good options for Tuesday and we will look forward to going there.”

Not many Bolton managers have uttered that last sentence.

The unexplainable rivalry with Tranmere has burned bright since the mid-eighties when the two clubs first started to regularly play in the same division and has not just been consigned to the terraces.

Sam Allardyce famously refused to allow his players to get changed at Prenton Park in the early noughties, the team bus pulling up in Birkenhead just 35 minutes before kick-off.

Evatt also had a regrettable experience at Tranmere in 2020, getting a red card from referee Neil Hair – later rescinded by the FA – having already seen his defender Ryan Delaney given an early shower. Tranmere, then managed by ex-Bolton boss Keith Hill, went on to complete their first-ever league double against Wanderers.

Evatt will most likely make sweeping changes to the team but he feels confident that by bringing in some of the players who have waited for their chance, momentum from the run of league victories can still be maintained.

“We have been playing well but we also need to keep everyone onside and in form,” he said.

“It isn’t the international break yet even though we have said goodbye to a couple of players – but we want to win on Tuesday, we will be going all-out to do it, then the players can have a bit of rest.

“The game (against Peterborough) was hard, of course, but that’s football. It isn’t meant to be easy. We will work hard again at Tranmere and then look at giving some of the players a couple of days.”

Evatt would ideally like to see the same attitude on the pitch as he saw on Saturday, where Wanderers stood strong against the physical threats of Peterborough United.

The Bolton boss feels his side are learning how to deal better with differently styled opponents, having struggled against more direct teams in the past.

“All I have wanted to see is progression since I have been here, and I think we are starting to witness it,” he said. “We have improved.

“Last season, we may well have been turned over and lost that game and at times been bullied, but there was none of that.

“I think there were some little glimpses of the good football we can play. If Conor Bradley’s first half chance went in it would have been an outstanding goal from goalkeeper all the way through. Unfortunately he missed it – but he was there to miss it.

“I have been pleased with them all season pretty much. I think our performances have been very good, excellent at times.

“The pleasing thing is that there is still improvement to come because if we start taking the chances that we are creating then I honestly think we are going to give someone a good hiding.”