AFTER the fun, games and goals of Tuesday night, it will be all hands to the pump at Wanderers as they look to keep themselves in touch with the automatic promotion spots before the international break.

Ian Evatt has forewarned Bolton fans that the next three games might be a case of ‘make do and mend’ thanks to a lengthy injury list and suspensions to George Thomason and Gethin Jones.

Wanderers hope to have Ricardo Santos, Carlos Mendes Gomes, Paris Maghoma and Joel Coleman back in time for October 21, when they host Northampton Town at the Toughsheet Stadium.

But until that point, Evatt has appealed to the club’s fans to rally behind the remaining players in the squad to give them the best possible chance of staying within touch of the top two.

“This next week is going to be a real struggle, we can’t deny it,” he told The Bolton News. “The players are playing with injuries, playing with niggles, they need some help and support.

“I’ll probably have to call upon players to play out of position and we need to find a way to get some points over the next three games.

“But I promise that this next week won’t define our season. As I said, there is sunshine coming over the horizon, we know it is there post-international break. By that point I think we will have everyone back and ready and raring to go.

“Until that point it is a case of rolling up our sleeves and finding a way to get results.”

Kyle Dempsey and Dion Charles were rested against Manchester United’s Under-21s to give them some recovery time after playing with back and shoulder injuries against Peterborough United at the weekend. Both are likely to come back into contention at Port Vale, although Evatt has been given some options with encouraging performances in the EFL Trophy.

Midfielder Aaron Morley has not started in the league since being withdrawn at half time in the 4-0 home defeat to Wigan Athletic but showed signs of returning to his creative best on Tuesday evening.

He has made six starts in all competitions so far this season, due largely to George Thomason’s greater share of game time, but Evatt says the 23-year-old’s spell out of the spotlight is not necessarily a bad thing for his development.

“Aaron is a really good football player and I think everyone forgets his age,” he said. “He is a young lad who has played an awful lot of games but with any young player you’ll get highs, lows, dips and sometimes you need to step out and let someone else share the pressure.

“We have done that with Aaron before, we have done it again, and now we are refreshing him to go again. We have a huge amount of belief in him and what he can be capable of in the future. He has fantastic ability and he showed in that game some of the things that he does very well.”

Up front, Dan Nlundulu helped himself to two goals and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson also returned to the starting line-up, getting on the scoresheet for the first time since scoring the winner against Portsmouth in the quarter-final of the same competition in January.

“I am pleased with both of them because not only did they get on the scoresheet but their general play was good, their pressing intensity was good,” Evatt said. “It followed on from Dion and Victor’s example, and that is really important against a side like United who build from the back.

“Dan getting into the right areas and spaces was good too. Too many times he has done really good work outside of the box and wide but we want him in that zone, the middle of the six yard box, scoring goals, and he did that.”

Wanderers scored eight times against United, finishing the game with six different goal-scorers for the first time since March 1997 when Gudni Bergsson (2), Jamie Pollock, Per Frandsen, Nathan Blake, John McGinlay and Alan Thompson netted in a 7-0 win against Swindon Town.

It was their biggest win since Tony Caldwell helped himself to five goals in an 8-1 thrashing of Walsall in the old Division Three in September 1983, and the first time that eight goals have been scored in a single game since they moved out of Burnden Park.