While Wanderers faced a blank weekend in their League One play-off challenge, a B Team line-up will be involved in a big date at Everton, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites have been invited to play at the Everton Stadium as the second test event to be staged by the Premier League outfit at their new Bramley-Dock home.
Senior men Ricardo Almeida Santos, Kyle Dempsey and Kion Etete have been pencilled for welcome returns to action in the game tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon (KO 2pm).
For fans wanting to watch the action this afternoon, there will be a live stream available on Everton's official YouTube channel. Full details can be found clicking here.
And even though the fixture against Everton’s U21s won’t go the full 90 minutes due to a planned evacuation of the stadium to meet safety licence requirements, B Team boss Andy Taylor is looking forward to a high-profile run-out for his team.
“It’s a great fixture to be asked to play in,” said Taylor, whose side has won its last two Central League fixtures and has an LFA Senior Cup semi-final to look forward to next month. “We know it won’t be a full game, but we can manage that accordingly and it will still be a big occasion for some of our players.
“This will the biggest crowd many of them will have played in front of, against high-quality opposition at a magnificent new stadium. It looks like we’ll have a couple of first-team players, as well, which will drive the standard up higher and it’s a game that will be really beneficial to us and one we’re delighted to be playing in.”
A sold-out ballot of home fans means there will be 25,000 in attendance at the game, which is one of a number of test events being staged to enable Everton to obtain a safety licence for their new 52,888-capacity waterside venue.
Fittingly, due to a rich history between the two clubs, Wanderers are one of the first to receive an invitation to play at the stadium which will be Everton’s home from the start of next season.
In September 1892, the Whites were the first visiting team to play at Goodison Park and the Toffees then played the first competitive fixture at Wanderers when the Whites moved from Burnden Park to their current home at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in 1997.
The fixture falls on an international weekend, with Wanderers’ scheduled home game against Rotherham United postponed due to international call-ups and re-scheduled for Tuesday, 8 April.
Steven Schumacher’s squad is back in training after a few days off at the start of the week to rest and refresh ready for the final nine games of the League One run-in.
And the boss is expected to take the opportunity of a semi-competitive run-out against Everton’s Premier League 2 team to give valuable game-time to some of his senior players on their way back from injury or short of recent minutes.
Midfielder Dempsey is likely to have his first run-out since sustaining a knee injury at the end of October, while defender Almeida Santos could feature for the first time since succumbing to a pelvic problem in mid-January.
On-loan striker Etete, meanwhile, could get only his second outing in a Wanderers’ shirt as he looks to stake his claim to play a part in the remainder of the Whites’ top-six push after recovering from a thigh injury which followed his brief debut as a substitute at Reading at the start of February.