Bolton are set to play in front of their biggest home crowd since the 2017-18 season when they host Rotherham United tomorrow.
The game has been designated a community/family day, with ticket prices slashed to £10 for adults. Tickets have been bought, and in many acts of generosity, have also been donated to fellow fans who otherwise may not have afforded to go. At the last check over 18,000 was the expected attendance, 21,097 attended a home game against Birmingham in April 2018, which was the last time over 20,000 attended a game at the University of Bolton Stadium.
It’s not a bad time to be coming back either. Bolton are scoring goals and could even head to the top of League One tomorrow, so hopefully Wanderers can replicate what they’ve largely done so far this season.
IAN EVATT | Manager ahead of Rotherham United home fixture – YouTube
Team news
Andrew Tutte has torn his hamstring so will be out for the foreseeable future. Declan John might return from his recent illness, but Amadou Bakayoko, Xavier Amaechi and Harry Brockbank are set to be out, although they are progressing well. Overall, don’t bank on too many changes to the starting lineup that demolished Ipswich.
Possible XI
Dixon; Jones, Almeida Santos, Johnston, Gordon; Williams, Sheehan; Isgrove, Sarcevic, Afolayan; Doyle
Last time out
Our last home game against Rotherham came on Boxing Day 2018, we went into the game off a 13-match winless streak but we managed to pick up a victory in this one. Sammy Ameobi gave us the lead, before Will Vaulks equalised minutes later. We would go on to win it in the second half though, with Gary O’Neil scoring to make it 2-1. Both teams were relegated to League One, but we didn’t host Rotherham in 2019/20 due to the season being curtailed, it would have been the final home game that campaign.
The opposition
The Championship/League One yo-yo club of recent times, Rotherham ended a three-year stay in the Championship in 2017 and have been either promoted or relegated every season since then. With three wins and three losses from seven matches, sitting 13th. Rotherham are had a decidely mixed start, but are actually only two points behind us. Players to watch include Michael Ihiekwe, a centre-back who has played every game so far having been at the club since 2017. Midfielder Daniel Barlaser joined initially on loan from Newcastle in 2019, but signed permanently last year, while left-back Joe Mattock has played the majority of his career in the Championship but is now approaching 200 league appearances for the Millers.
Prediction
Rotherham know their way around this division so it could be a tough game, but we should get something out of this. I just worry that in recent years we haven’t always performed in front of a big crowd, although I suppose this current squad probably has a much more confident mentality. 1-1