WANDERERS remain frustrated with the actions of the Northern Ireland Football Association after defender Eoin Toal suffered two concussion events during the recent international window.

Ian Evatt has voiced his concern that the centre half was allowed to play again three days after reporting dizziness during a friendly in Belarus. He started the following game against Bulgaria in Belfast but was substituted during the first half after once again reporting symptoms.

The confusion over exactly which protocol timeline had to be followed then impacted Bolton’s next two matches, with the player declared unavailable for the home game against Burton Albion and then pulled out of the squad which travelled to Birmingham City.

Toal has trained fully this week as the club stuck rigidly to the Graduated Return to Play Programme guidelines and it is expected that he will be passed fit by a neurologist to play against Peterborough United.

Wanderers are unhappy that Toal was played in the second Nations League game, which effectively cost them the services of a key defender at St Andrew’s.

Speaking about Toal’s condition at his pre-match press conference, Evatt said there is little recourse for the club to affect the situation when players are injured on international duty.

He said: “The issue for us was that there were two episodes and not just one. If there was just one we would have been okay to play him Tuesday but because there were two we’ll always err on the side of caution, player welfare will always come first with us and always will. Alongside a neurologist and a medical team we made the decision he wasn’t ready to play at Birmingham but we are hopeful he will be okay for Saturday.

“I’ve made my comments that I was disappointed with the way it went down and it isn’t for the first time, obviously we had Dion (Charles) last season. Unfortunately, the way the football pyramid is built we are lower down the food chain and these international teams can pretty much do as they please, so we have to bite the bullet a bit.”

Toal will be suspended for Northern Ireland’s next fixture at home to Belarus on November 15 but is likely to receive a call-up to feature against Luxembourg on November 18, alongside team-mates Dion Charles and Luke Southwood.

Josh Sheehan (Wales) and Szabolcs Schön (Hungary) are also expected to travel next month in the third international window of the season, which will mean the trip to Rotherham United, currently still scheduled for November 16, will be rescheduled.

Evatt said the club is making a conceited effort to rearrange postponed games as early as possible in the season calendar to ensure there is no pile-up in the final few months, similar to that experienced in the previous campaign. And that could also free up space for knockout fixtures if the club progress to the latter stages of the FA Cup and Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

“It is nice to have internationals and it is nice to have a break and a reset but it can cause complications as well,” Evatt added.

“It can be hard – and I have explained how it can be difficult to prepare during international breaks when you don’t get the players back until a couple of days before a game. You never really know what condition they are going to return in.”

Wanderers have set a points target before the next break, which involves trips to Stevenage and Stockport County after today’s visit from Peterborough.

“At the end of the last international window we targeted this block of five fixtures and wanted 10 points, so two per game, which we know where that ends up,” the manager said. “We have three league games to still gain that, one at home, two away, and if we can gain seven points from those fixtures then I think it is a good return.

“I know we’re a long way off from that yet but the opportunity is there, and we have a cup game too where we always want to progress, but Walsall are going well too. It’s a challenging run given the squad availability but we are where we are and we have to deal with it.”