WANDERERS could face the League One promotion run-in without more than half their first team strike force.
Victor Adeboyejo, who hobbled out of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Exeter City, became the most recent striker to go down with an injury.
Ian Evatt acknowledged that the 26-year-old had hurt his hamstring, but he won’t know how bad it is until later on Monday after a scan and evaluation by medical professionals.
In addition, the Bolton boss disclosed that leading scorer Dion Charles had suffered a setback in his knee injury recuperation, making it unsure when he will return.
Wanderers are now down to just three front men, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Aaron Collins, and Cameron Jerome, who between them have only three league goals for the Whites this season. Dan Nlundulu and Carlos Mendes were already sidelined by long-term injuries.
Evatt has been encouraged by the recent performances of veteran Jerome, who has come off the bench to good effect against Barnsley and Exeter.
January signing Collins has also been finding his feet, recently scoring his first goal for the club against Cambridge United.
Fans’ favourite Bodvarsson has eight goals in all competitions this term but has started just six times in League One and could now find himself pushed to the front of the queue.
With so many strikers in the team, Evatt told The Bolton News following the final whistle on Saturday that “we are down to probably three fit strikers.” “Really, injuries have been plaguing us all season long, especially since Christmas.
“Cameron has really changed the game’s course and demonstrated what he can accomplish in the last couple of games, in my opinion. He has a significant impact on us. It has made me happy for him.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, this has always been a collective effort. It has always been down to me, the staff, the fans, everyone to stick together and keep trying to drive forwards.
“There will be difficult moments. Second half at times was difficult. But the players found a way to pick themselves up to get a result.
“We know now that it puts extra pressure on the rest of the week, but we have to go and embrace that.”
Evatt refused to be too downbeat after a weekend in which his side slipped into third, a point behind Derby County, who they face on Saturday.
“It is tight, and it will be tight all the way,” the manager said. “Every game you will see swings and we have to make sure we come out on the right side of it. We need to do better.
“This was the other way around from Barnsley. Second half there we were excellent, first half here we were excellent. It comes down to whether you get the reward for that dominance.
“They were two really poor goals to concede, which gave ourselves a real mountain to climb. It all came about because we just didn’t reset after the first one.
“We are where we are. We have got what we have got. We need to move on to the next challenge and know that there will be twists and turns. There is a lot of football still to be played.
“All you can do is learn, and we have to learn from what happened there.”
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