KYLE Dempsey is a doubt for Wanderers’ EFL Trophy tie against Salford City.

The midfielder is likely to be rested for the game after carrying a back injury for the last few weeks.

Wanderers will most likely have to do without their international contingent, Dion Charles, Eoin Toal, Josh Sheehan and Zac Ashworth as they link up with their respective squads.

And that could mean Ian Evatt has to turn to the B Team squad for back-ups, with the likes of Luke Matheson, Sam Inwood, Matt Tweedley and Nelson Khumbeni already possessing some experience of the first team environment.

“We have one or two bangs and bruises,” the manager said. “Kyle has been suffering with a nasty back issue ever since the Fleetwood game. It was a challenge in the first half where I thought the lad should have had a second yellow.

“He has struggled a bit with some spasms and bone bruising but everyone else seems to be fine.”

Evatt gave some first team exposure to the likes of Lamine Toure, Conor Carty, Connor Stanley and Luke Hutchinson in the group stages of the competition last season, and with a handful of Saturday’s squad unavailable, he could turn to the second string for back-up against Salford.

Among them, summer signing Luke Matheson, who already has more than 60 first team games under his belt during his time at Rochdale and in loan spells from Wolves at Ipswich and Hamilton.

The 20-year-old joined Bolton after his release at Molineux in the summer and Evatt has been pleased with what he has seen from him so far.

“The reason we have done the B Team is to bridge the gap between the Under-18s and the first team but also to develop the players with a view to making them first team members,” he said. “Obviously with competitions like this, when we are light on numbers, we can achieve that.

“We are not promising any of them anything – they have to go out there and earn it – and we try to get a few of them into first team training each week so we can keep tabs on them and see how they cope in that group, and they have done very well.

“Luke (Matheson) is a good example of that. He has played at first team level, he has had to suffer a little bit at Wolves, but he has done very well so far, I have been very impressed with him. Hopefully he can kick on this season and make a case.”