Preview: Bolton Wanderers vs Mansfield Town

After a thumping 4-0 defeat away at Leyton Orient, Ian Evatt’s Bolton Wanderers face a Mansfield Town side still looking for their first win of the season.

Bolton’s slight upturn in form ended with a bang on Saturday as Ross Embleton’s Leyton Orient dismantled Bolton with the Wanderers failing to register a single shot on target. The disappointment of that result has been felt all around the club and Bolton will be desperate to bounce back with a win against Mansfield Town side who themselves are struggling to match pre-season expectations and find themselves at the wrong end of the table.

The Stags’ poor start has already seen them dispense of Irish manager Graham Coughlan, with a winless run of 9 games forcing the powers that be into removing the Dubliner from the helm. The run represented their worst ever start to a league season, in a campaign many tipped the Nottinghamshire side for promotion. Despite their winless start, Town have registered 6 draws including a 1-1 draw against Walsall at the weekend.

Both sides will see the game as a real opportunity to get a much-needed win on the board.

A particularly big blow for Wanderers at the weekend was the injury of forward Nathan Delfouneso, who may join fellow senior striker Eoin Doyle on the Wanderers’ injury list. The matchday squad could see the much-anticipated return of winger Lloyd Isgrove and forward Shaun Miller, whilst Ronan Darcy is likely to feature from the start. Unfortunately, the game may come too soon for full-back Gethin Jones as he is likely to miss out on facing a club he represented on loan in the second half of the 2018-19 season.

Tuesday will represent the first meeting between the sides in over 27 years, where they shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Mansfield. Bolton lead the overall head-to-head with 7 wins to Mansfield’s 4. The League Two rivals have drawn on 6 occasions.

The bookies can barely split the pair, with Bolton available at 8/5 and Mansfield at 7/4. The draw can be found at 23/10.