The obligatory Owen Coyle photo
The cup season is upon us once again as Bolton Wanderers open the Carling Cup against Macclesfield Town at the Reebok. The Silkmen of League Two downed Hull City by a score of 2-0 to reach the second round. Bolton will look to do better than they did last year when they were ousted by Burnley in the third round.
Expect a number of new faces in the side as Bolton are expected to win by a healthy margin. Adam Blakeman was on the bench in the City match but wasn't allowed the chance to make an appearance while other youngsters like Joe Riley and Mark Connolly could see time on the pitch. Two players who came on as substitutes against Manchester City but didn't get the start they would have liked but could do well for themselves in this match are Darren Pratley and Mark Davies while Tuncay could be handed a Bolton Wanderers debut as news broke via his personal twitter account today that he was handed a work permit.
Bolton have only faced Macclesfield Town twice in their history and both of those fixtures came in the 2000 League Cup. Bolton were dumped out then in the first round by an aggregate score of 3-2 over the first tie and the replay. Expect the Trotters to score a few and get back to their winning ways.