In-form Wanderers head to north Wales on St David’s Day as they make a rapid return to Wrexham in their continued push for a play-off place.
Steven Schumacher’s men lost to the Robins in the Vertu Trophy earlier this month but with three points at stake in the League One promotion race this is a bigger game.
Wanderers are seeking a fourth straight league win under Schumacher at the end of his first month in charge, while Wrexham will be looking to bounce back from their mid-week Trophy exit at the semi-final stage to enhance their automatic promotion hopes.
The two sides drew 0-0 at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in August in their first meeting for 36 years.
Press conference
Steven Schumacher: “There are areas to improve on, things to get better at and keep pushing the players every day to try and achieve what the end goal is. Ultimately that's to get into those promotion places and we can't wait for the weekend.
“It'll be a difficult game, no doubt. It'll be one that's going to be competitive and we need to make sure that we're ready for it, because it's one of the toughest games you can go to away from home.
“I know they've had a couple of bad results of late, but they'll be desperate to put that right, I'm sure. We had four that couldn't play in that (Trophy) game, so all of them are all available for this one and similar for them, so the team sheets will probably look a lot different.
“But we know what to expect. We know it's going to be a physical game and it's going to be one where we're going to have to compete, stop crosses where we can, and be on it when we have the ball.
“We felt we did some things well in the Trophy game, so we'll look to do that again, but this time have more of an end product with it and see if we can hurt them.”
Watch the full pre-match interview with Wanderers’ head coach and hear from wideman Szabi Schön on Wanderers TV
Phil Parkinson: “We won't let it (the Trophy loss) knock us at all because we know that the focus has got to be on the weekend.
"We had to sit down as a staff on Tuesday and pick the team with the weekend in mind and I think everybody saw that. But it didn't affect the performance in the first half at all and some of those lads did themselves no harm at all.
“I look at the league in its own entity and we had a brilliant win at Mansfield (in the last league game). We're in a good vein of form, we've won three out of the last four games in the league and we go into the Bolton game confident to reproduce the performance we put in against Mansfield.
"It's a great game for us. There's a terrific run of games coming up and we're looking forward to that.”
Team news
Wanderers will have Eoin Toal back in the squad but defensive colleague Gethin Jones could mis out again with a rib injury, while Ricardo Almeida Santos is not yet ready to return.
Victor Adeboyejo joins strike colleague Kion Etete on the sidelines with a knee problem but Carlos Mendes Gomes could be back in the Whites’ 18 as an extra attacking option.
Midfielder Kyle Dempsey has stepped up his training and is getting closer to a welcome return after four months out with a knee injury.
Wrexham will be without midfielder Andy Cannon, who scored the winner against the Whites in their Vertu Trophy tie, but Elliot Lee is available again following a mid-week comeback.
Boss Andy Parkinson is expected to change most of his line-up from their Trophy exit to Peterborough, with late January signings Jay Rodriguez and Sam Smith likely to be among those to return in attack.
Form guide
Wanderers have won five of their last six league games to move within goal difference of a place in the play-off places.
Only league leaders Birmingham City have taken more points over the same period. Steven Schumacher’s men face the Blues in their next home game next Tuesday night.
Wanderers have been involved in only one draw since Christmas and no side in the division has had fewer draws than the Whites’ total of five.
Third-placed Wrexham are currently eight points ahead of Wanderers in the League One table and three points behind the automatic promotion places.
Phil Parkinson’s side has won three of its last seven league games and failed to win any of their last three home league games, having been unbeaten at home until the end of January.
The Welshmen went out of the Vertu Trophy on penalties to holders Peterborough United in mid-week after letting slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at the STōK Racecourse.
Kick Off
Saturday 12.30pm
Referee:
Declan Bourne
Bourne last refereed Wanderers in October for a 2-2 draw against Shrewsbury Town when he booked half-a-dozen Shrewsbury players and sent of former Bolton boss Ian Evatt.
Tickets/Wanderers TV
Wanderers have sold out of their allocation of around 1,300 tickets for the Saturday lunch-time kick-off, which is live on Sky Sports+
Audio passes will be available, as always, for UK-based supporters. Those based internationally can stream the game through a live video match pass on Wanderers TV.
Click HERE to purchase a pass