WANDERERS must be ready for anything when they face Reading this afternoon, warned manager Ian Evatt.

An unpredictable atmosphere awaits the Whites in Berkshire after a week where the home club was docked three points by the EFL and protests against the ownership have been mooted among home supporters.

Equally difficult to predict will be how Reading’s squad – on average the youngest in League One – would react to the volatility.

Evatt has called on his players to stay focussed and maintain the sort of tempo to their game which Derby County struggled to cope with before the international break.

“We have to try and use our experience to our advantage,” he told The Bolton News. “The news of a points deduction can do one of two things – it can galvanise them, or it can make them feel pretty sorry for themselves; I’d expect it will be the first one.

“I expect Reading to make things difficult but the one thing we did really well against Derby and Salford was to start the game electric-fast, and if we can do that again it will put them under pressure and, fingers-crossed, we can get that first goal, which we know is highly important for the way we play.

“Doing that would put the pressure on them and then it is down to those young players to see how they react.”

Reading have beaten Cheltenham and Stevenage at home this season but the reaction to this week’s points deduction – dished out by the EFL because owner, Dai Yongge, did not deposit enough money for wages – has brought about an angry local reaction, putting some question marks against how Ruben Selles’s side may react.

Wanderers encountered similar issues under their previous ownership in early 2019 where fans voiced their unhappiness.

While Evatt has sympathy for the Royals’ cause, he also wants his players to ensure they get the job done.

“We have to show empathy to the people at Reading and the situation they find themselves in because we have been there ourselves,” he said. “For us, we have to use our focus and understand the job we are there to do, regardless of the outside noise or circumstances.

“I must emphasise that Sharon, the board, the job they have done to stabilise this club and the support they have given to me – the fans exactly the same – has been absolutely unbelievable.

“We are able to look from the outside at a club like Reading, who are really suffering, knowing that we have come out the other side. That is why we have to have empathy with the situation they are going through.

“For us, it is all about the next phase of our journey, and we are all excited about getting it back to the level of football we feel it belongs in.”