Quite an eventful since we lost at home to Preston then. Our manager is now our former manager. Jimmy Phillips is in as caretaker manager until the end of the season, Jay Spearing and Liam Feeney probably won’t be seen in a Bolton shirt again, while today we were brought the news that a former Wanderer is returning. Peter Reid has joined Bolton as a advisor to the coaching staff.
Anyway, this article is to preview tomorrow’s match. We travel down to Bristol City, backed by over 700 cra…sorry, committed fans.
About six weeks ago we may have looked at this as a key game in the battle to stay up. But after a managerial change, Lee Johnson’s men have hit form, while we have picked up two points since early February. Maybe it’s still a key game for the hosts, but for us it’s all about pride.
Vital Quotes: The Managers
‘We’ve played some good football this season, especially at home, without get the results the performances deserved.’
Neil Lennon in his press conference. Well actually it was Jimmy Phillips, but exactly something Lennon would say.
“The guy (Phillips) could come in and completely change it by playing a lot of youth team players, who are unknown to us, so we`ve got to do a lot of research and make sure that whatever team we put out can really affect the game in a positive way.”
Robins boss Lee Johnson, to City’s official website. I’m not sure that’s going to happen pal.
Bristol City Team News:
Luke Ayling should be available after being cleared of having a slash in a pint glass at Cheltenham. I don’t see the problem of that. Carling have done that for years and sold it as ‘lager.’
Korey Smith has an ankle problem and is likely to wait until after the international break for his return
Player to watch: Marlon Pack
A decent young defensive midfielder, good on the air and breaks a lot of play up. One of Bolton’s better attributes this season is that we can play some reasonably good stuff until the final third, so he stops us from doing that we’re really screwed.
Bolton Wanderers Team News:
Liam Feeney and Jay Spearing won’t be playing as one has left, and one is probably going to leave. Apart from that, no new injuries, and nobody set to return.
Player to watch: Zach Clough
He could have been playing for the hosts. A fee was agreed in January but he preferred to stay at the Macron. Performances in recent weeks have taken a dip but a new manager may play him in a more comfortable role, and instruct team mates to get the right balls into him.
Match Facts & Stats
These two teams last met in November, when Shola Ameobi missed a penalty and we missed a few sitters to somehow come away with a 0-0
This is Jimmy Phillips’ second spell as caretaker boss. His first spell also started with a game against Bristol City. We came from 2-0 down to beat them 3-2 at the Reebok in October 2012. Martin Petrov scored a late winner.
Bolton have won five of their last eight against Bristol City, losing just one.
Match Prediction:
We’re away. We’ll lose. Sorry everyone.
Bristol City 1-0 Bolton
Next Fixtures:
After the international break, we host Matt Lucas’ Reading, while Bristol City travel up to Hull