Wanderers working on plan to better utilise Josh Sheehan in League One - Evatt

JOSH Sheehan’s international masterclass for Wales in midweek has convinced Ian Evatt that Wanderers can get even more from their midfield maestro.

Man of the match for his country against Bulgaria, the 29-year-old returns to club level this weekend bristling with confidence and looking to have the same impact against Burton Albion.

Evatt was delighted to see Sheehan give such a good account of himself in Cardiff, and is now challenging his own team to give the playmaker a similar platform in League One.

“Josh is a top player and it is great that he has been given a chance to go out there and show international football what he can do,” he told The Bolton News.

“The difference is that League One teams normally pay a lot more attention to him, I think he went under the radar with Bulgaria, and perhaps that will change if – as I hope – he stays in the team.

“For us, it’s about how we utilise him when teams are trying to take him away. There are different ways to make him effective, and they are conversations we are having all the time.

“Playing our way suits him, which is important to say. But the game at a higher level probably does suit him because teams in this league know how good he is, they often mark him man-to-man, sometimes even play two players on him with a cover screen in front of him.

“But what that should do is make him effective in freeing up other spaces and other players. And it’s how we recognise that fast enough to hurt the opposition, make them move away from that plan, and then we can bring Josh back into the game.

“It is those types of scenarios we have to improve on, I think.”

Wanderers have been reminded of the poor start they made to the previous home league game against Shrewsbury, conceding two set play goals in the first half to require a rescue act in the second to earn a point.

Evatt – who will serve the first of a three-game touchline ban this afternoon – has stressed the importance of sticking to a gameplan.

He said: “The annoying things about the Shrewsbury performance was that the game itself was okay – it was the detail of the set plays and the detail we had shown the players, those specific set plays, we just didn’t execute the plan at all. We were a bit naïve and we gave ourselves a lot to do.

“We had the chances to win the game but you can’t give any team, anywhere, a two-goal head start and be happy with that. We know what our record is like when we score first so that has to be the plan. We get ourselves out of the blocks fast, tails up, and get the fans behind us.”

Evatt will also be looking for his team to show more ruthlessness in front of goal than they have in the last couple of hours of football, including a frustrating Bristol Street Motors Trophy game against Aston Villa’s Under-21s.

Having got level against Shrewsbury the lack of composure in the penalty box and build-up phase was something he wants to see improved upon.

“We did the hard part well and got back all-square, fast, but then we needed to slow down and understand where the space was again, switch the ball more effectively, be calmer in the box,” he said.

“We had a huge chance with Aaron (Collins) towards the end and ordinarily if you wanted anyone on that chance, with composure, it would be him. That’s football sometimes.

“In the league we have turned things around, we are on a pretty good run and we need to continue that this weekend.”