WHATEVER the result against Barrow on Tuesday night, Ian Evatt and his Wanderers will know fans’ frustrations would, at best, remain on a rolling boil through the international break.

Whether in response to consecutive defeats this season, an overspill of emotions from the play-off final back in May, or a longer-term storm which began brewing at the start of the year when last season’s automatic promotion charge began to falter, it is hard to ignore the sense of dissatisfaction brewing in some sectors of the fanbase.

It is not completely unchartered territory. The Bolton boss – and indeed some of his players – have faced this sort of invidious spell before and responded with a positive spell of results.

Evatt has himself cited his troublesome first month in charge, back in the covid-affected empty stadia, during which he became the first manager ever to lose his first five games.

The back-end of 2021 was similarly fractious, injury issues highlighting a thin squad that had perhaps arrived in League One underprepared.

And though Evatt has also expressed his wish to stop discussing events at Wembley, it is hard to put the current mood into some context without mentioning the significance of the defeat against Oxford United and how it changed the perception of both the manager and the team in the eyes of many.

Whether that fall from grace was a permanent measure was always going to be governed by how Bolton started the current season. And though there is some understandable logic behind why performances have not yet satisfied the public, football does not always offer a reasonable sounding board to a manager or team in distress.

Evatt did sign players like John McAtee, Jay Matete, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Scott Arfield who had either been on the fringes of the first team picture at their previous club or had finished the season completely.

The likes of Dion Charles, Randell Williams, Carlos Mendes Gomes, George Johnston and new addition Luke Southwood did carry across fitness considerations from the previous season, and many more players have since picked up issues – Gethin Jones, Klaidi Lolos, Will Forrester, Joel Coleman and Victor Adeboyejo among them.

But Wanderers and Evatt have to accept their own part in this, particularly in the new recruits brought aboard this summer. Though failure to get automatic promotion to the Championship did throw a proverbial spanner in the works for recruitment, significant finance was made available to bring in what was required. The “short term pain” that the manager talks about while he settles in a new system with new players is very much self-administered in most cases.

Whatever happened at Holker Street in the group stage of a competition which really has dropped to the bottom of Bolton’s priority list this season was unlikely to change the narrative much. Equally, Evatt may feel he was in a no-win situation. Victory has done little to change the dial, indeed there has been some complaints that a strong side was named and that Jordi Osei-Tutu was forced off with a knee injury. Mercifully, that does not look like an issue which will affect anything after the break.

Lose against League Two opposition and it would have been like pouring water on burning oil. The criticism would have unquestionably intensified, which means Tuesday night’s outcome is probably as favourable as the club could expect in the circumstances.

What happens against Huddersfield Town, a club relegated last season who have lost their last three games in all competitions including a BSM Trophy group game at League Two Doncaster in midweek, will surely be a better gauge as to the Bolton’s current state.

There is plenty of time to correct course and no appetite at the club to make drastic changes, either to the management or the playing staff, for the time being. The start to the season has been more traumatic than expected, perhaps, but for now Evatt and his players are content to work through the choppy waters once again in pursuit of smoother sailing.

A reward lies on the horizon with a trip to Arsenal, the cup competitions continuing to provide the sweeter moments in the early season, but the whole club knows league form is paramount and that the only way to appease the masses will be to start winning games where points are at stake.

Evatt is quite correct - Wanderers have indeed lost two of their opening seven – but in this season above all others, League One games are weighted, and that is the only arena his team can regain hearts and minds.