WANDERERS will make changes for today’s FA Cup clash with Solihull Moors – but Ian Evatt insists that will not be an excuse for performance levels to dip.

With a Tuesday trip to Shrewsbury and another league game at home to promotion rivals Blackpool next weekend, it is highly probable that the Bolton boss will rest some of his key players for the first round game against Solihull Moors.

Will Forrester, Luke Matheson, Jack Iredale, Dan Nlundulu, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Carlos Mendes Gomes and Paris Maghoma could all come into the equation as Evatt looks to give his full squad game time.

After three straight wins in the league, Evatt is confident that momentum can be continued in the cup.

“We have got a good squad of players and if we make changes and rotate then it means there is opportunity, and one that has to be grasped with both hands,” he told The Bolton News.

“We have two big league fixtures on the back of this game, and I’m not saying our eyes are turning towards them but we know they are vitally important to our season. And we have to keep people ready for those games.

“I trust every single player in this squad. I have brought every single one of them into the building with the exception of George Thomason, and I know what they are capable of doing. On Saturday they need to go out there and show it.”

Evatt spent the first two seasons of his managerial career in the National League with Barrow and was knocked out of the FA Cup in 2019 by today’s opponents Moors.

He believes the standard of football at non-league level is now improved, and tactically more varied.

“I haven’t seen a great deal of the National League since I left it but what I have seen, it has changed,” he said.

“I have watched Solihull, seen a little bit of Chesterfield because I live there, bits and bobs of Notts County and Wrexham and their progression last season, and it is a different animal now.

“Some teams have a clear identity now. They want to progress through the thirds, play from the back, be aesthetically pleasing, and I have seen that sort of football from Solihull, they have players who have played league football and if we are not ready, they will cause us problems.

“The culture we have created here at Bolton Wanderers helps, though, because the players know exactly what is expected and I don’t foresee attitude or preparation being a problem on Saturday.”