Bolton play their first-round Carabao Cup tie tomorrow night and it couldn’t have been a more difficult tie.
Wanderers were drawn away back in June to play Leeds United, who have gone and promptly beaten Stoke and Leeds, the latter emphatically at Pride Park at the weekend, so this should be the biggest test of our credentials so far.
You would probably, however, expect both teams to make changes from their weekend sides – for Bolton that could mean the first competitive minutes for the likes Erhun Oztumer and Jack Hobbs. Remi Matthews could get the nod in goal after signing on Sunday.
While we’re unbeaten so far despite predicting a loss on both occasions so far, I’ll keep up the pessimism but with so many changes possibly afoot anything could happen. It would be great for us to have a cup run – while financially progress wouldn’t have the same financial impact as an FA Cup adventure, I would hope Phil Parkinson doesn’t completely throw the game and picks a strong side (although I accept there will be some changes) – because a few wins and a decent tie at some stage would be enjoyable. At the same time, it’s a free hit, if we lost, it should be forgotten about by the following morning, because what we do in this competition won’t define the season. Unless we won it. But that’s stupid talk.