IT is often said in football that the strength of a team can often be measured by the players on their bench – and Wanderers went into the new season looking well stocked.

Even though George Johnston, Eoin Toal and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson were unavailable for the opening games, Ian Evatt seemingly faced a difficult choice naming a matchday squad of 18, let alone the starting 11 when his team walked out against Lincoln City at the start of the month.

Injuries have bitten again recently, with Ricardo Santos added to the pile of absentees at Burton, but the Bolton boss persisted with his policy of not naming a substitute keeper in favour of an extra attacking option until Tuesday night’s cup game against Middlesbrough, a stroke of luck in the event as starter Joel Coleman was forced off at half time and replaced by Nathan Baxter.

Wanderers had the luxury of naming nine players on the bench against Boro but will be back to the standard seven once again when they face Derby County this weekend.

Evatt has spoken about the changing role of substitutes, particularly in the light of extra time being added on by officials because of new regulations. He has taken maximum advantage of the five substitution rule too, and along with Reading boss Ruben Selles, has made the maximum 25 replacements in the opening five games, trailing the Spaniard in terms of the number of minutes offered to his subs by 488 to 611 overall.

What might be of note, however, is that Bolton and Reading are two of nine clubs who have currently had no direct involvements by a substitute in any of the goals they have scored this season.

By direct involvement, the player must have scored or immediately assisted a goal, and therefore George Thomason’s fine pass to find Kyle Dempsey on the opening day of the season – his cross eventually finding its way into the net via Paudie O’Connor – was not counted.

Surprise front runners Cambridge United lead the way this season with Mark Bonner yielding three goals and six involvements from the 18 substitutions he has made so far.

Last season, Evatt saw his subs directly involved in 18 goals across 46 games, which placed him eighth among his peers in the division. Steven Schumacher, Plymouth Argyle manager, skewed the mean with an incredible 40 goal involvements overall, nearly twice as many as nearest rivals Ipswich Town and Barnsley (22).

The number of substitutions made also correlated roughly with the final finishing places of the respective clubs. Ipswich (211) and Plymouth (202) led the way, followed by Bolton (189) and Barnsley (188), suggesting a deep bench could indeed be linked with success.

On Tuesday night Baxter’s half-time introduction was one of another five – Josh Dacres-Cogley, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Paris Maghoma and Kyle Dempsey also coming off the bench. Wanderers struggled to get a foothold in the second half and without the ball the replacements were probably more to address fatigue than for tactical purposes. Nevertheless, the run of no involvements continued.

Evatt has suggested that he may concentrate solely on bringing another goalkeeper to the club before Friday night’s transfer deadline, which means until January he will be looking to his current crop of players to keep themselves in promotion contention.

The Bolton boss has stood loyally by his strikers amid plenty of talk about their goal return, and with Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles both returning four goals apiece, seems to be getting a positive reaction.

The next step may be to get more from the players pushing for a place in the starting line-up, and the likes of Bodvarsson, Cameron Jerome, Carlos Mendes Gomes and Dan Nlundulu will also want a chance to show they can spearhead Evatt’s attack.

For Jerome, who turned 37 earlier this year, the supporting role is one he has had to get used to since signing for Bolton in January.

The striker maintains that whether he gets on to the pitch, or not, he still has a big role to play in Bolton’s pursuit of success.

“I’m not naïve enough to think I am going to play 46 games a season,” he told the club. “I’m well aware I am coming to the last knockings of my career.

“It is about enjoying it and helping the group where I can, helping the manager where I can. If he needs me on the pitch for whatever minutes or if it is in and around the group helping to push us in the right direction.

“As a player of this age and experience you know you are not the youngest, but I still want to be out there.

“I still train every single day and my availability does not decrease because my age is increasing.

“I still enjoy being out there on the grass with the lads, pushing myself and I’d like to think I have still got a bit of juice left in the tank.”