Why Declan John came off at half-time of Bolton Wanderers' Salford City Carabao Cup win

Declan John was replaced at half-time of Bolton Wanderers' Carabao Cup first round thrashing of Salford City due to illness rather than injury.

Brandon Thomas-Asante put the visitors in front last night at the University of Bolton Stadium, but Wanderers equalised through Elias Kachunga. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson ensured Wanderers went into the break ahead.

Kieran Sadlier added a third after half-time, before Liverpool loanee Conor Bradley came off the bench to score a stunning fourth. Dapo Afolayan scored a late fifth before George Thomason was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Luke Bolton as the Whites booked their place in the second round in style with a 5-1 win.

READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Salford City - Jones, Lee, Kachunga & Bodvarsson good in win

John was replaced at the break by Jack Iredale and did not emerge for the second half. Evatt clarified that this was down to illness rather than any injury as he expressed pleasure at coming from behind and especially the passing move of their second goal.

He said: “He (John) was just feeling unwell. A bit of stomach cramps and slight dizziness, so we’ll see. He might have a virus or something, but no real injury to speak of. Just illness.

“I thought we started well. We had control, we had the ball, we looked sharp and incisive and just a couple of times some slack decisions and then just half a yard off the intensity required to get real pressure on the ball and to be fair, they punished us, especially down their right in the first half and for the first 20 minutes or so and then we got to grips with it.

“The goal spurred us on and then we really stuck to our task, found the solutions and then were clinical and ruthless in the final third, so I’m