Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt praises first class midfielder Brandon Comley

IAN Evatt has praised Brandon Comley’s “first class” attitude after returning to the team for the first time in eight months.

The midfielder is not named in Wanderers’ 23-man roster for the EFL and cannot feature in league games unless he is registered.

But Evatt says the former Colchester United man has continued to train hard in the hope he can still turn around his Bolton career.

Comley was subject to interest from Leyton Orient in January but fell out of favour in December last year and had not played a competitive game since Tuesday night’s 4-1 win against Liverpool’s reserves.

“I think it’s credit to him,” Evatt said of Comley’s performance. “His attitude and application was first class, as was them all. That is the type of group we have.

“We have a group that are demanding of each other. We have high standards whether it be on the training pitch, whether it be on a matchday, whether it’s a simple passing drill on an actual 11v11.

“Our attitude and application has to stay the same and the standards we’ve set together as a group and the culture we’ve created is excellent.

“It hasn’t been easy for Brandon but there has never been a problem personally between him and myself. It is just about selection, and it is business at the end of the day. It is football.”

While the Papa John’s Trophy and the involvement of Premier League Under-21s teams continues to attract great criticism across the board, the competition has proven useful for Wanderers to keep some of their less-used players match fit.

The likes of Will Aimson, Nathan Delfouneso, Harry Brockbank and George Thomason all shone at the UniBol, which left Evatt feeling content about the standard of his squad across the board.

“We have got some serious competition for places all over the pitch,” he said. “Once everyone is fit and available I think we have really good strength in depth and it’s down to those lads that are not playing week in week out when they get these opportunities to take them and I think they all did that tonight.”

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