WHICHEVER combination of Wanderers’ striker ‘pack’ are sent into battle against Shrewsbury Town, they might just fancy their chances.

Be it Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo, John McAtee and Aaron Collins, or a combination of all four, confidence is brimming in the Bolton’s forward ranks.

With the second-bottom side in town, Charles may be in a better mood than most. The Northern Ireland international has a solid goal record against the Shrews, scoring four times in six appearances against them in a Bolton shirt.

Goalkeepers famously have their own ‘union’ and Ian Evatt has called on his forward players to form their own collective in an effort to keep standards high. Whether he gets his wish, or whether egos are bruised as time progresses remains to be seen, but for now at least he seems to be getting something out of each of his four main options.

No team in League One can top the four goals which have come from Bolton’s substitutes so far, suggesting that even those players who do not start on Saturday are still well capable of making an impact.

Charles has six goals in all competitions and is now looking back to something like top form and fitness after the knee issues he suffered at the start of the year.

McAtee has also scored in his last two games, regaining some of his swagger after playing catch-up for the first few weeks having been left on the shelf at Luton Town over the summer.

Adeboyejo and Collins are also off the mark, both adding something different to an attack which looks as strong as anything Evatt has had in his four years in charge.

That also gives the Whites boss a headache that he has rarely had to manage since the turn of the year.

“It is the reason we brought these guys in, we felt they were four different types of player. At the moment we seem to have found partnerships, but I do think that they can all play alongside each other, I genuinely do.

“And as I have said to you guys and I have said to them, this isn’t about individuals, it is about a team. They are a mini-team within the main team and they have to support each other and strive to push each other on.”

Life has not been easy for Paul Hurst since his side limped over the line to secure League One survival last season, which included a battling draw against Bolton in April.

The 50-year-old ended his first spell with the Shrews after losing a play-off final against Rotherham United in 2018, after which he left to join Ipswich Town for what proved an ill-fated five-month term.

He returned in January this year but has thus far won just five of his 30 games in charge, the Shropshire men currently second bottom of the table with four points from nine games.

But as Evatt will point out only too readily, changing the mood theoretically only takes 90 minutes.

“You are only one result away from it turning, and we have felt that at Bolton,” he said. “It could happen in any game at any time.

“We drew the game here at the end of last season when we needed to win to keep up our hoes of going up automatically, but they made it difficult for us and I expect them to do the same on Saturday.

“It is going to be great playing back at home again after three games in six days against different types of opponents. The Crawley and Northampton games are ones that in the past we have struggled with at times but it was great to put some points on the board and Arsenal was just a great learning curve.

“I felt like post-Huddersfield and in the week leading up to the Reading game that everyone managed to reset and the players I’d say are brimming with confidence again, which is good to see.”