What Ian Evatt said about Richie Wellens, Doncaster Rovers' spending and Bolton's injury problems

Evatt has warned his injury-hit side to expect a difficult test against Rovers at the University of Bolton Stadium tonight (8pm).

The former Blackpool and Chesterfield defender was complimentary of Wellens in his pre-match press conference and said the Mancunian will have Rovers well set up.

"I know Rich well, I’ve known him a long, long time,” said Evatt.

"I played against him a lot, we did our qualifications together. He’s had a topsy-turvy time but he knows the game really well.

"He’s had a good career, very experienced and tries to play a certain way. A good identity, good philosophy.

"He’s had challenging times at Doncaster – they aren’t spending the kind of money they used to and you have to find a way, and Rich is trying to do that. It will be a very difficult for us.

"They obviously had a good result against Lincoln on Saturday and are improving all the time. We’re depleted but as I said we have to find a way to get the right result."

Like Rovers, Wanderers have been hit hard by injuries and Evatt says they are down to 14 senior professionals for tonight’s game.

He said: “In my entire career, let alone management career but professional football career, I’ve never known a period where so many senior players can be missing at once and we’re not talking about squad players here.

“We’re talking about our first XI and it’s been absolutely decimated, but there’s nothing we can do about it unfortunately.

“We’ve got to crack on and that’s what I was saying on Saturday after the game about a bit of a siege mentality and us against the world kind of thing and have the fans on board with that and back the players because we can’t do anything about it until January.

"For now we’ve got to do the best we can to find a way of getting results.”