Bolton boss Evatt warns his side are a different animal ahead of MK Dons clash

Bolton boss Ian Evatt says his side have learned a lot of lessons from their 2-0 defeat to MK Dons at Stadium MK last season.

Goals from Mo Eisa and Scott Twine wraped up the three points for Liam Manning’s side back in February, but only three of the side that played that day will be available for Dons tonight when the sides meet again.

Bolton head to Stadium MK eighth in the table but are still looking for their first away win of the season - having only played on the road three times so far - while Dons are keen to get back to winning ways following back-to-back losses, dropping to 18th in League One.

With Manning admitting his side are still getting gelling as a side after making 14 new signings in the summer, Evatt says he feels Dons will have a similar feel about them at Stadium MK tonight, but his Bolton side are much different than they were seven months ago.

“They’ve lost some really good personnel that would affect any team really,” he said of Dons. “They have embedded a lot of new players and they’re getting used to the system and the manager’s ideas. But we think fundamentally it will be the same.

“We have improved out of possession. I think the first half hour there towards the end of last season we were poor and our pressing strategy was wrong.

“I think we’re a different animal now out of possession and hopefully we can go and show that tonight.”