Jack Iredale is relishing the prospect of playing in front of a bumper Bolton crowd as Wanderers eye a possible red-letter day.
The Whites are set to attract their biggest crowd since their Premier League days with the previous high of 24,844 from a Championshiop fixture in May, 2013 in line to be surpassed for this afternoon’s visit of Derby County.
Ian Evatt’s men have been superbly supported all season and Iredale believes the fans could again make the difference as Wanderers look to secure a 16th home win of the year in their final fixture at the Unibol of 2022.
“I love playing at the stadium here – especially when the crowd is in full voice,” said the Whites' defender.
“I’m sure they will be against Derby. We’re expecting a big crowd, so really looking forward to hopefully signing off on the year in a good way.
“Playing in front of the home crowd is incredible, especially when we’re in front and things are going really well.
“It’s awesome. I still get goosebumps whenever we score and there’s the roar of that crowd or we have that momentum and the crowd’s right behind us.
“It’s incredible and helps us find that extra gear as well.
“You can say what you want but the fans really are a 12th man for us, especially when they’re right behind us.
“We want to be playing at the highest intensity possible but there’s always that extra gear when the crowd is right behind us as well.”
Victory over the in-form Rams would be enough to lift Wanderers up to fourth place in the table.
And a third successive victory would also be the ideal way to start a key run of fixtures either side of the turn of the year.
“I thought the first half against Exeter we were excellent and that was off the back of a really good win against Man United in the Papa Johns,” added Iredale – a key man in the first half of the season since joining Wanderers from Cambridge United in the summer.
“Two good results for us – building a little bit of momentum and hopefully we can keep doing that.
“The table is so tight. We know how important wins are in this league, especially against teams around you.
“We‘ve got an important run of fixtures coming up and we want to get as many points as possible on the board.
“A lot of clubs look at how important the December and January fixtures are.
“We know we’ve got a lot of important games coming up against teams that are in and around us in the table.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a challenge but it’s going to be an exciting month.”