Ian Evatt said the half-time substitution for Gethin Jones and all the other changes Bolton Wanderers made versus Crewe Alex were all planned as the Whites boss wants his side to take the Papa Johns Trophy opportunity as a chance to get to Wembley.
In Group B of the Northern section of the draw, Wanderers took the lead early on through Amadou Bakayoko. However, the Railwaymen drew level not long after through Courtney Baker-Richardson.
Wanderers went ahead after the break thanks to Dion Charles, before Kieran Sadlier added a third with a classy finish. Charles added his second and Bolton's fourth before the end to ensure a 4-1 win.
READ MORE:Bolton player ratings vs Crewe - Sheehan, Thomason & Charles great as Toal's encouraging debut
Jones came off at the break, while four more changes happened after the hour mark as Eoin Toal came off after a solid debut and Josh Sheehan returned from a long injury lay-off. Evatt revealed the changes made, including the one for Jones were all planned.
The reward for making it out of the group and through the various knock-out phases is eventually a trip to Wembley. Evatt wants his team to use the opportunity the Papa Johns Trophy offers as a chance to get there and earn some silverware.
He said: “No it was all planned, everything was planned tonight and managed. The substitutes were already organised before the game and we knew exactly what we were doing to manage people’s minutes and no issues there at all.”
“I think we spoke about this before the game, anytime you get a chance to play a cup final at Wembley you should try and take it with both hands because those are the moments in your football career that you remember. Your families want to come and see their kids play at Wembley Stadium and hopefully we’ve got a chance of doing that.
“You look at the other cup competitions, who wins the Carabao Cup every season and who wins the FA Cup every season, it’s always one of the big four predominantly and in this competition we’re one of the better teams in League One so we have to try and target it and we will do. We think we’ve got the squad capable of it. It’s stronger again from last year and as you can see from tonight, we’re taking it very seriously.”
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