Kyle Dempsey was absent from taking on former club Gillingham with Bolton Wanderers after picking up a groin injury as well as a bout of flu.
The January transfer window deadline day signing was not in the matchday squad against the Gills yesterday as Wanderers won 3-0 at Priestfield.
Wanderers took the lead in the first half thanks to a brilliant strike from Aaron Morley for his first goal as a Bolton player.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Gillingham - Morley, Bodvarsson, Fossey and John good
The Gills went down to 10 men midway through the second half when Daniel Phillips was shown a second yellow card.
And Wanderers capitalised with the extra man with goals from Declan John and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson before full-time in a scoreline where Bolton could have won by a much greater margin.
Speaking after the game, Ian Evatt expanded on what kept Dempsey out of action as he revealed the midfielder picked up a groin injury which might have kept him out of the clash.
Had it not, then a bout of flu may well have ensured that Dempsey would not have featured, but Evatt believes he would have been involved in some way had he been fit.
Evatt said: “He hurt his groin on Tuesday. We kept it very low key and under wraps. It’s nothing too serious, but it was too much for him to take part today.
"He’s devastated but also he’s picked up a bit of a nasty cold and flu, which may have kept him out anyway.
“He’ll be back here one day to say his goodbyes, but for now he’s a Bolton Wanderers player and he has to look at the future with us.”
“He’d have certainly been involved. Obviously he’s devastated to miss it but there’s going to be other battles to win with that one.
"We don’t want to risk him and make the injury worse but I think illness would have probably kept him out anyway so it was the right decision.”
The Bolton boss also explained why veteran defender Alex Baptiste was not on the bench for the second game in a row.
Baptiste has not been part of the matchday squad against MK Dons and Gillingham owing to personal reasons and the Bolton boss explained that a complicated pregancy for the defender's wife has been behind his absence.
Evatt said: “His wife Emily had a complicated pregnancy and obviously we respect their privacy and we want Alex to be with his family to care for her and his newborn child and that’s the right thing to do.”
