Whaddon Road. 15/12/2020. 19:45 KO.
On the 8th of November 2007, Bolton Wanderers earned a memorable 2-2 draw away to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. On the 8th of November 2016, a late Amari Morgan-Smith penalty saw Bolton lose 1-0 to Cheltenham Town in the EFL Trophy.
One thousand and thirty eight fans witnessed the first competitive meeting between the clubs, an attendance which will be only just beaten at Tuesday’s encounter. The robins ended the away side’s seven match unbeaten run at the time, a far cry from today’s form as they sit 16th in League Two with just six wins from 17 games.
A win under the floodlights will put Michael Duff’s men within one of their total from that season, where they won twelve matches, not including cup games. Wanderers, on the other hand, won twenty five and finished second in League One, winning promotion to the Championship.
What a difference three years can make as the clubs meet in League Two for the very first time, with the Robins flying high in second place and the trotters struggling towards the bottom. It’s now Cheltenham that boast a winning league run, going five unbeaten (with three cup games between matches) and Bolton are without a win in two having been beaten by Port Vale and Walsall, home and away respectively.
Bolton fans made no secret of their confidence going into the season, with many fully expecting promotion as the bare minimum and the title as an accompanying gift. This confidence seems to have been misplaced as they have struggled so far despite big name summer acquisitions.
League Two 2019/20 top scorer Eoin Doyle joined from Swindon Town while Antoni Sarcevic joined from Plymouth Argyle, who had been promoted alongside Swindon last season. Having scored eleven more than his closest rival (Nicky Maynard of Mansfield) last campaign, Doyle hasn’t struggled to find the net again, scoring eight times so far, putting him joint sixth in the table. With the Irishman’s eye for goal, the Lancashire outfit have found the net 21 times, that’s eight less than the robins.
Cheltenham will be without midfield duo Connor Thomas and Chris Clements, both out with thigh injuries. Flinders may miss out having been injured in the warm up at Salford, but Duff has said third choice keeper Max Harris is isolating due to his girlfriend testing positive. Sean Long is still injured and won't be involved.
The away side went into their weekend clash with Walsall without any new injury worries, their main absences of Andrew Tutte and Harry Brockbank are making good recoveries but probably won’t be back in time for the match.
Bolton will be looking to kickstart their season and finally get into gear to push into the playoff positions, which they are only five points away from. Duff will be looking to close the gap on top place Newport County, which sits at three points.
We should be in for a good game with Cheltenham looking to copy their goal scoring form from the Exeter game against a team who have conceded 26 already this season.
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