Dion Charles will miss Wanderers’ Carabao Cup opener as the Whites face Salford City in Tuesday night’s first-round tie.
Charles was ruled out of last Saturday’s 3-0 League One win over Wycombe with a thigh strain.
But manager Ian Evatt hopes the striker will be back for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday-week as he potentially plans without the Northern Ireland international for a couple of games.
“Dion won’t be available. It’s nothing serious or sinister,” confirmed Evatt.
“We just need to be slightly cautious until the slight strain has healed and once it’s healed we can go again with him.”
Wanderers brought Amadou Bakayoko into their starting line-up against Wycombe and underlined their goal power with midfield men Kyle Dempsey, twice, and Aaron Morley finding the target.
And Evatt has plenty of options at his disposal for the visit of League Two side Salford as he looks to plot a route through to round two.
“The players are in really good shape so we don’t have to make any changes,” added the Wanderers’ boss, who will be able to name nine players on his bench.
“Having said that, we’ve got a really strong squad of players where we feel there’s very little wastage and not much drop-off for when we do rotate and change the team.
“It gives us good options but, like always, we’re not going to change the team for the sake of it.
“We respect Salford. We think they’re a good team and we’re going to highlight their strengths and weaknesses and pick a team we think can expose the weaknesses and manage the strengths.
“A football match is a football match. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a pre-season friendly or a Carabao Cup match or a league match.
“You want to win every game you play. That’s the competitive edge and that’s why you’re in the game.
“We’ll have that same attitude and regardless of the team we pick, we feel it will be good enough to win the game.”
The tie at the University of Bolton Stadium (KO 7.45pm) will be decided on the night with penalties after 90 minutes if the scores are level.
The winner will then go through to the second-round draw which takes place after the Sky Sports televised tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland on Wednesday night.
Tickets are still available for Tuesday night’s game, priced just £10 adults and £5 for over-65s and under-18s and will be available to purchase up until kick-off.