Bolton Wanderers will be hoping to put their recent league troubles behind them as they welcome near-neighbours Blackpool to the Reebok Stadium this coming weekend in the Third Round of the FA Cup.
Blackpool are currently managed by raging egomaniac and violent bully Paul Ince, who is lucky to still have a job in the game following his latest indiscretion.
After a strong start to the season, things have levelled out and Blackpool find themselves in 12th place having a neat and symmetrical eight wins, eight draws and eight defeats from their 24 league games to date in Ince's first full season as their manager having taken over in February 2013 and guiding the club to a 15th place finish.
Their poor form in recent months is exacerbated by the fact that they made their best-ever start to a league season in the early weeks. An away victory at Bournemouth in September gave them 16 points out of a possible 18, with five wins and a draw in their first six games.
Since then they have found points harder to come by, with just three wins since September, and none since the end of November.
They arrive at the Reebok on a run of seven defeats in the last eight games, a spell broken by a 1-1 home draw with Leeds United on Boxing Day.
The Summer saw an influx of players in and out of the club:
In
Player |
From |
Fee |
Undisclosed |
||
Undisclosed |
||
Unattached |
Free transfer |
|
£500,000 |
||
Unattached |
Free transfer |
|
Six-month loan |
||
Undisclosed |
||
Five-month loan |
||
Free transfer |
||
Loan |
||
Loan |
Out
Player |
To |
Fee |
Free transfer |
||
Free transfer |
||
Free transfer |
||
Released |
||
Free transfer |
||
Loan |
||
Free transfer |
||
Season-long loan |
||
Undisclosed |
Ince has come under some pressure lately from fans, with the online community pressing for a return for former manager Ian Holloway. The FA Cup will no doubt bring much-needed relief for Ince and the club as they aim to provide an escape from their current league woes.
These two clubs have a rich history, and will be facing each other on Saturday for the 101st time. Bolton lead the way on 40 wins to Blackpool's 32. Top scorer for Bolton against Blackpool is Nat Lofthouse, unsurprisingly, with 10 goals.
Last Five Meetings
27.11.2010 - Bolton Wanderers 2 v 2 Blackpool (Martin Petrov, Mark Davies)
14.05.2011 - Blackpool 4 v 3 Bolton Wanderers (Matt Taylor, Kevin Davies, Daniel Sturridge)
10.11.2012 - Blackpool 2 v 2 Bolton Wanderers (Mark Davies, Chung-Yong Lee)
04.05.2013 - Bolton Wanderers 2 v 2 Blackpool (Chris Eagles, Craig Davies)
01.10.2013 - Blackpool 0 v 0 Bolton Wanderers
Prediction
It has been a while since we beat this lot, so it's high time we did.
Heart
Bolton Wanderers 3 v 0 Blackpool
Head
Bolton Wanderers 1 v 0 Blackpool - attendance 5,000 tops