Bolton Wanderers have a mounting injury list in League One at the moment as they hope to bridge the seven point gap between themselves and the play-off places.

The Trotters' squad did look on the thin side when they were competing towards the top end of the division earlier in the season, and the recent hectic schedule has taken its toll on the fitness of Ian Evatt's squad.

Evatt does not want to use that as an excuse and was calling for a positive reaction when he spoke to The Bolton News.

He said: "Sometimes you need a bit of adversity to see the real strength of character and I have been crying out for some of the lads to step up to that plate and become leaders.

"I think we are seeing that with Elias Kachunga. I think the same with Ricardo Santos, he is growing into the captaincy. For now, we need to batten down the hatches, stick together as a group and keep fighting."

Gethin Jones, MJ Williams, Josh Sheehan, Amadou Bakayoko and Andrew Tutte were all unavailable in midweek but Wanderers pulled through with a 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers. Star man Dapo Afolayan will miss out at the weekend due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

The Verdict

Evatt could only name six substitutes in midweek due to the losses in the squad and Cheltenham Town will present an even tougher test at The UniBol. Afolayan is a huge miss, the go to man to get Bolton clicking and the most dangerous player in the squad, but the opportunity for fringe players could create a positive environment.

Saturday provides a chance to make it three consecutive home wins which would suggest Bolton are on their way back to the play-off race but the midweek action may have taken a lot out of them. Bolton will be addressing key areas ahead of the January transfer window at the moment with the injury crisis exposing their shortcomings in their top six bid.