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Preview: Rochdale v Bolton Wanderers

Parky and his men head to Spotland to try and reverse a disappointing recent spell of results

Rochdale v Huddesfield Town - Pre Season Friendly Photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

So tonight Phil Parkinson and Bolton Wanderers take their six match unbeaten run / six match winless run (delete as applies to you) to local side Rochdale in League One.

On the back of our lesson, taught by Bradford City who annihilated us with their advanced tiki-taka (which yielded a massive 51% possession and four shots on goal), the lads will be looking to put in a much improved performance following a series of disappointing results which go all the way back to the 1-1 away draw with Charlton Athletic.

Our opponents are in the midst of their third consecutive season at this level under the command of Bolton fan and long-term admirer of the big job, Keith Hill who is in his second spell in charge following a mixed time in Barnsley.

They are themselves in the middle of a six game winless run, losing to Oxford United (who we play on Saturday), MK Dons, Bradford City Port Vale and Peterborough United. This has left the team in 19th place after nine fixtures, earning just nine points along the way.

A summer of change saw Hill bring in six new faces on permanent deals, whilst cutting loose eleven players including former Wanderers Rhys Bennett and former Greggs employee of the year Grant Holt.

Rochdale will have a familar face in their ranks in the form of Sanmi Odelusi who is on loan from Wigan Athletic having found himself out of favour at relegation-threatened Athletic.

Wanderers go into the game with their own worries, as three of last week's back four find themselves on the treatment table. It is expected that Lawrie Wilson will replace Lewis Buxton, with Derik Osede coming in for Mark Beevers. It is less clear who will take over from David Wheater at the heart of our defence.

I have a bad feeling about tonight. We don't appear to be the most resilient team in the world at the moment and we need a good result to get some momentum back into our promotion campaign.

Injuries like these have come at the worst possible time as a thin squad finds itself top-heavy in terms of attacking resources.