Jack Crosland shares his views ahead of our clash with Cardiff City
What a huge fixture this. Not only in the context of the season, but in the context of the football club, Saturday is a bigger game than any I can remember in the 15 years I`ve been watching The Whites. The West Ham at home fixture which saw Jay Jay Okocha`s solo winning goal is certainly a rival. El Hadji Diouf`s winner to see off Atletico Madrid comes close, but in terms of the psychological lift that 3 points would bring in the most testing time, most Bolton fans more experienced than me would argue, for many years – Saturday is bigger. It won`t be a packed out Macron. The line-up won`t be blessed with stars like the teams we were treated to in happier times. It could though be the first step to recovery.
Neil Lennon has suggested that positive talks have left Trevor Birch feeling ‘a lot more confident` which means that the worst, finally, could be over. When the takeover does happen relief will spread and the future of our club will look considerably brighter. The next question will be: How will we stay up? 3 points on Saturday could leave us a solitary point from safety and the answer to that question will be a lot easier to answer. I am confident that, buoyed by the good news of a takeover, with a bit of money to bring players in, we can stay up and kick on next year. But a giant first step would be beating our Welsh opponents on Saturday.
Max Clayton is out for Saturday and could be out for the season which is a huge blow. Although Zach Clough is nearing a return, we have a real lack of creative spark on Saturday. Mark Davies` performance will be pivotal, if he plays like he can then we can score goals, if not we will struggle to break Cardiff down. The man leading the line on Saturday will probably be Shola Ameobi. Known as the ‘Mackem Slayer` Shola loves a big game and there is no bigger than Saturday. Could he produce a match winning moment to cement his name in the history of Bolton Wanderers? The Defence will have to solid which, to be fair, hasn`t been a problem for most of the season. I don`t expect any changes there. The onus is on scoring goals and there is no doubt we have to attack Cardiff on Saturday from the start to give the fans a boost.
Whatever happens on Saturday, Bolton Wanderers are our football club and they need us right now. Try and get to the game on Saturday and if you do, get behind the lads. Let`s give everyone a boost in this most testing time. This time next week things could look a whole lot brighter but, for now, Saturday is all that matters.