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When Wanderers lost the services Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones within a couple of weeks of each other in December, you could sense the concern within the club.
First thought for captain, Santos, was for his immediate welfare, such was the shock felt when he was rushed into hospital with breathing problems a month ago.
Vice skipper Jones stepped up to speak for the squad in those worrying few days, but he then succumbed to a knee injury, leaving Ian Evatt’s designated ‘leadership team’ out of commission for a run of fixtures that was widely expected to determine Bolton’s promotion capability.
On Monday, both Santos and Jones returned for the first time to the matchday squad. The latter came off the bench in the second half to replace the injured Jack Iredale at left wing-back, while the club captain walked deliberately early to the tunnel to absorb a cascade of well-wishes and songs, stopping momentarily to see whether his team-mates could add a fourth goal from a corner.
In their absence, Wanderers have hardly put a foot wrong. New defensive partnerships have been formed, different leaders came stepped up and, crucially, the club has accrued enough points to keep themselves comfortably in the top six for the time being.
The captain’s role was passed on to the squad’s most experienced player, Kieran Lee, whose performance at Barnsley on Monday was the very definition of the phrase ‘lead by example’.
Whilst the former Sheffield Wednesday man played only nine minutes of a passive 90 at Lincoln City, his influence over the last few games has been considerable.
Along with the younger, more dynamic legs of Kyle Dempsey and the canny Aaron Morley, he triumphed against one of the division’s best pressing midfields at Oakwell, adding an air of calmness in possession.
George Johnston also took on more responsibility without the two players with which he played most of his football this season, briefly taking the captain’s armband in an audition he is surely to revisit in the future.
Both he and Eoin Toal have taken notes from Jones on how to step into midfield, linking up with the wing-back to create extra numbers in attack. And if Johnston can develop the forward-thinking side of his game further, he may well become one of the best playing assets in Evatt’s squad.
Toal has revelled in his moment since replacing Santos against Bristol Rovers. Hampered by minor injuries since he was signed from Derry City, there was a general unfamiliarity with his game when he first game into the team. Now, with a debut goal at Lincoln and a couple of eye-catching displays under his belt, he too is looking like a clever bit of business.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the defensive reshuffle, however, was Will Aimson, a player whose playing chances had been so infrequent at the start of the season many predicted he could leave in January.
Like Lee, the 29-year-old leads not with a booming voice but an educated one, and younger defenders like Toal and Johnston have readily cited his good advice when their own progression has been discussed.
When called upon in his 18 months at Bolton, Aimson’s defending has rarely been called into question. And it was that unfussy, physical style which repelled Barnsley when they threw everything forward in the opening 20 minutes of the second half on Monday afternoon.
In the absence of arguably their two most modern defenders – or at least those who best understand Evatt’s grand plan – Wanderers have serendipitously happened across a trio who have worked as well as anything that has gone before.
No manager resents these happy accidents and, as Evatt has said himself, he brought Toal and Aimson to the club trusting they could make a difference.
The big decision faced by the Bolton boss now is: Does he stick with the unit that worked well to this point, or does he bring back the tried and trusted?
There have been times this season where the form of Santos and Jones has been called into question, so the outcome of the decision is by no means obvious. But the importance of results against promotion rivals Plymouth, Portsmouth and Derby County means Evatt will get little margin for error.
The rejigged back three has passed a couple of tricky tests over the last month and it now rests on Evatt’s shoulders to decide if Toal, Aimson and Johnston will be tasked with taking on the best team in League One to date.
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When Wanderers lost the services Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones within a couple of weeks of each other in December, you could sense the concern within the club.
First thought for captain, Santos, was for his immediate welfare, such was the shock felt when he was rushed into hospital with breathing problems a month ago.
Vice skipper Jones stepped up to speak for the squad in those worrying few days, but he then succumbed to a knee injury, leaving Ian Evatt’s designated ‘leadership team’ out of commission for a run of fixtures that was widely expected to determine Bolton’s promotion capability.
On Monday, both Santos and Jones returned for the first time to the matchday squad. The latter came off the bench in the second half to replace the injured Jack Iredale at left wing-back, while the club captain walked deliberately early to the tunnel to absorb a cascade of well-wishes and songs, stopping momentarily to see whether his team-mates could add a fourth goal from a corner.
In their absence, Wanderers have hardly put a foot wrong. New defensive partnerships have been formed, different leaders came stepped up and, crucially, the club has accrued enough points to keep themselves comfortably in the top six for the time being.
The captain’s role was passed on to the squad’s most experienced player, Kieran Lee, whose performance at Barnsley on Monday was the very definition of the phrase ‘lead by example’.
Whilst the former Sheffield Wednesday man played only nine minutes of a passive 90 at Lincoln City, his influence over the last few games has been considerable.
Along with the younger, more dynamic legs of Kyle Dempsey and the canny Aaron Morley, he triumphed against one of the division’s best pressing midfields at Oakwell, adding an air of calmness in possession.
George Johnston also took on more responsibility without the two players with which he played most of his football this season, briefly taking the captain’s armband in an audition he is surely to revisit in the future.
Both he and Eoin Toal have taken notes from Jones on how to step into midfield, linking up with the wing-back to create extra numbers in attack. And if Johnston can develop the forward-thinking side of his game further, he may well become one of the best playing assets in Evatt’s squad.
Toal has revelled in his moment since replacing Santos against Bristol Rovers. Hampered by minor injuries since he was signed from Derry City, there was a general unfamiliarity with his game when he first game into the team. Now, with a debut goal at Lincoln and a couple of eye-catching displays under his belt, he too is looking like a clever bit of business.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the defensive reshuffle, however, was Will Aimson, a player whose playing chances had been so infrequent at the start of the season many predicted he could leave in January.
Like Lee, the 29-year-old leads not with a booming voice but an educated one, and younger defenders like Toal and Johnston have readily cited his good advice when their own progression has been discussed.
When called upon in his 18 months at Bolton, Aimson’s defending has rarely been called into question. And it was that unfussy, physical style which repelled Barnsley when they threw everything forward in the opening 20 minutes of the second half on Monday afternoon.
In the absence of arguably their two most modern defenders – or at least those who best understand Evatt’s grand plan – Wanderers have serendipitously happened across a trio who have worked as well as anything that has gone before.
No manager resents these happy accidents and, as Evatt has said himself, he brought Toal and Aimson to the club trusting they could make a difference.
The big decision faced by the Bolton boss now is: Does he stick with the unit that worked well to this point, or does he bring back the tried and trusted?
There have been times this season where the form of Santos and Jones has been called into question, so the outcome of the decision is by no means obvious. But the importance of results against promotion rivals Plymouth, Portsmouth and Derby County means Evatt will get little margin for error.
The rejigged back three has passed a couple of tricky tests over the last month and it now rests on Evatt’s shoulders to decide if Toal, Aimson and Johnston will be tasked with taking on the best team in League One to date.
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