WANDERERS most not allow tomorrow’s home game with Peterborough United become a pity party, warned manager Ian Evatt.

A crowd of more than 20,000 is expected for the club’s first Community Day of the season, with ticket prices reduced to £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.

But Bolton are carrying into the game an unprecedented injury list which has been extended this week with the loss of further key players.

Evatt and his players came in for criticism last weekend as they let a lead slip in the final 13 minutes to lose at Reading, and the manager’s recent recruitment has also come under the microscope in some quarters.

But steadfastly believes that his team can take three points against Peterborough United this weekend, despite the odds seemingly being stacked against them.

“I have a huge amount of belief in these players, in myself and the staff, and injuries will not define what we do this season,” he told The Bolton News.

“I know where we are going and I know what a huge amount of hard work is going in to get us there.

“There won’t be any prizes dished out in September, only in May, so there shouldn’t be any over-reactions to negative results. It should just be focus, move on to the next challenge.

“I’d say 99 times out of 100 we would have won that game at Reading, given the chances we created, but we didn’t. That result has gone now, we can’t sulk, we move on and put absolutely everything into trying to beat Peterborough United.”

Depending on the fitness of striker Dion Charles, who is still rated at 50-50, Wanderers could have fewer than 18 senior players to pick from against Posh, who will be seeking their first-ever win on Bolton soil.

Evatt is confident he can draw from other areas of the squad and the B Team and still be competitive.

“Look, it isn’t ideal at all, and what we did last season was look at the data to see how we could have adjusted training to make sure this kind of thing didn’t happen,” he said.

“We tried that but unfortunately some of the injuries we have picked up are anomalies, really, they are contact injuries or over-stretches, that can happen over the course of a football match.

“We have to deal with it. I genuinely don’t think any squad in this division could cope with the amount of injuries we have at the moment but I think we can.

“Whoever gets their chance has an opportunity now to really make a name for themselves.”

Evatt has taken aboard the criticism he and his players have been given over the last few days but says it won’t affect his belief that the squad can challenge for automatic promotion this season.

“It is important that we keep our belief and when we get hit by negativity then we have to use it to focus our minds and really make sure we prove these people wrong,” he said.

“There have been tough times and dips in form in my time here, people who have been happy to write us off, but we have always come out the other side. And we will do it again.

“But I do think it is important as a football club that we stick together when there are moments of adversity because that defines what we are and who we are as a football club.

“Players don’t want to lose football matches, I certainly don’t think they should lose many, and they haven’t in the time I have been here.

“There has always been a togetherness here that cannot be broken and we need to keep a tight hold of that.”