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They were asking if you were aroundHow you was, where you could be foundTold them you were living downtownDriving all the old men crazyThe Tractor Boys are back in townThe Tractor Boys are back in townI saidThe Tractor Boys are back in town
That's right, the boys, those with tractors and without, are back in town. Ipswich Town and Bolton Wanderers have not met in over seven years with their last encounter an FA Cup match at Portman Road in 2005. The last time these two played at the Reebok? 2001, in the Premier League, with Bolton Wanderers winning 4-1.
There is some team news for Bolton with Martin Petrov may miss the match. Rumor is that a hamstring strain that he picked up at Blackburn (where he come on as a second-half substitute) is cause to sit him on the sidelines. Petrov is still waiting to earn his 100th English league start, which has been a long time coming. If Darren Pratley makes an appearance for Bolton, it will be his 300th across all teams. Keith Andrews will get a shot at one of his old teams after beating another midweek. The midfielder spent part of the 2011 season on loan to Ipswich from Blackburn.
Even with Mark Davies being eligible to play again after sitting out the midweek match due to a suspension for yellow card accumulation, he may not be handed a starting spot against the Tractor Boys. Dougie Freedman has said that he will continue rotating and shuffling his lineups around in order to keep things fresh. Jacob Butterfield put in an immense performance against Blackburn (so much so that he took our Man of the Match award) and it may be enough for him to retain the starting spot.
As for Ipswich Town, they are also in their sixth game with their new manager. Mick McCarthy took over the Blues shortly after Dougie Freedman was unveiled by Bolton. In those six games, Ipswich Town have picked up the same number of points as the Trotters but have done it with one more win (and three less draws). They also have lost two of those six games by huge margins, getting pounded 6-0 by Leicester City and 5-0 by Crystal Palace. Ispwich are looking for their first back-to-back wins in 29 attempts.
Ipswich Town will be without Nigel Reo-Coker as he is out with a hamstring injury and thus, will not get his first crack at his old team. Fun fact: speaking after the Blackburn game, Chris Eagles had no idea that Reo-Coker went to Ipswich. Luke Hyam will go through a late fitness test to determine his eligibility.
Ipswich Town sit just one spot out of the drop zone and two points clear but are five points behind Bolton in 17th place.
Speaking of places, Bolton's 17th place sounds bad but the Trotters are just six points out of the playoff spots after picking up two wins and four draws in Dougie's undefeated six game start. If you're a fan of good runs of form, Bolton have lost only one of their last nine with that result coming in Jimmy Phillips' final game away to Middlesbrough.