This weekend sees our high flying, table topping Bluebirds head up north to visit what must be one of the worst named stadiums in the country. Whilst the Cardiff City Stadium may sound a little boring, you have to agree that it’s a million miles better than the ‘Toughsheet Community Stadium’ isn’t it? Bolton fans must squirm in their seats whenever they hear it? Anyhow, now that’s off my chest, this game has all the hallmarks of another classic. If we put our dreadful and surprise loss at home to Burton to one side and imagine we’d managed to score a couple of the copious amount of chances we created we would now be on a 4 match winning run, however, we didn’t and we aren’t, and despite still topping the table and managing back to back wins in our last 2, performances themselves have given us fans some cause for concern. Our hosts this weekend have a remarkably similar level of form to us over the last 6 and come into this one off the back of a much rejoiced, last gasp win away at Huddersfield. So who will triumph in the Sky+ televised early kick off? Who Are You? Bolton Wanderers were of course one of the founding fathers of the football league and have a rich history. Formed in 1874, the club won the FA Cup an impressive 4 times, including the famous "White Horse Final" in 1923. The club have spent many years in the top flight but sadly for Wanderers fans, the glory days of the 1920’s and 1990’s must seem like proper ancient history now with the club since becoming mired in the Championship and League 1, suffering financial issues, winding up petitions and administration. Thankfully though it does now seem like the worst is behind them, with new owners an EFL Trophy win in 2023 and a play-off final spot in 2024 (losing out to Oxford Utd). They are now managed by ex-Plymouth manager Stephen Shumacher having parted company with Ian Evett in January of this year. Shumacher has a decent record so far with the Lancastrians, picking up 14 wins from 35 games giving him a very creditable 40% win ratio. Their squad has a smattering of familiar faces, including Welsh International Josh Sheehan, ex-Bluebird loanee Jordi Osei-Tutu and Finnish attacker Marcus Forss. Top scorer so far this season is on loan Hull forward Mason Burstow with a very good 7 goals from 13 games, though the team do seem to be quite reliant on him for his goals with the rest of the squad managing just 10 more between them all. First And Last Our first ever meeting with Bolton Wanderers was way back in October 1921 in a 1st Division match that saw the Bluebirds suffer a narrow 2-1 defeat at Ninian Park. As has been mentioned previously, that 1921-22 season was our first ever in the top flight whereas our visitors that day were seasoned top flight campaigners having been on an 8 year run in the top flight by the 1921 season and having spent another 14 years up there prior to that with just a few dips into Division 2. In fact, just the season prior to this game the Trotters had managed a creditable 3rd place finish. A reported crowd of 40,000 saw us lose out, with Jimmy Gill scoring the Bluebirds solitary goal that day. The team did however avenge that defeat when we played the return match up at Bolton just 7 days later, reversing the scoreline and seeing Gill bag a brace up at Burnden Park. Burnden Park - the site of the glorious Gill double! Our last league meeting with the Trotters was at the CCS back in February 2018 – now, remind me, how did that season finish up??? In front of a surprisingly low crowd of just over 16k, the Bluebirds kept up their promotion push with a 2-0 home win thanks to goals from Armand Troare (his only goal for us) and skipper Sean Morrison. That win placed us in 4th spot at that crucial point of the season and kept us well in contention for what would turn out to be our 2nd promotion to the Premier League. One thing to note is the number of former and future Bluebirds in the Bolton line-up that day! Form Bolton come into this one full of confidence after their last gasp win on the road last weekend and also with the knowledge that they remain unbeaten at home in the league this season (4 wins, 2 draws). Currently sitting in 7th spot and having picked up 10 points from their last 18 they have the 7th best attack overall with 18 goals in their 13 games played but they are distinctly average defensively with the 12th goals conceded record (15). That however changes if we look solely at home records. Ignoring their dire away form we can see that our hosts have the joint 2nd best attack (13 goals in 6) which is bettered only by our own 16 home goals in 7. Defensively at home they are very string toom with just 4 goals conceded on their own patch. All of this points to a tough game at the Toughsheet! On The Pitch So where does BBM go from here having watched us win games but look far less confident when doing so? Omari Kellyman has very much started to endear himself to the Bluebirds faithful and gaffer alike and appears to be forming a good relationship with full back Ronan Kpakio, so he’ll surely get the nod once again? Both CB’s Lawlor and Fish remain doubts for this one but Lawlor does appear to be in with the better shout of appearing. That would most likely mean Calum Chambers retaining his place in the starting 11 but will it be alongside the struggling Osho or returning Lawlor? Elsewhere, Alex Roberston may finally be seen in a matchday squad after improving in training and up top I would imagine Salech will continue having finally found his shooting boots. Predicted Starting 11 Trott Bagan Lawlor Chambers Kpakio Wintle Colwill (J) Colwill (R) Kellyman Willock Salech The Odds For once we actually seem to be 2nd favourites… hopefully that’ll provide just enough extra incentive for our travelling warriors who will once again been backed in large numbers by the faithful capital city clan. C’mon The City!!!!
Only went to Burnden Park once. A limp late loss in1982 under Graham Williams. All I remember was a hardy bunch of us stood in the open away end getting soaked. We got relegated that season. Brizzle diplomatically perhaps omitted to mention the away match in 2017/18 season when we lost 2-0 to Bolton with Madine scoring one. I remember listening to Radio Wales when Nathan Blake said City needed a striker like Madine. Seemingly Dalman listened
We signed a few flops over the years that had previously 'starred' against us. Always seemed a knee jerk....
Went down to NP in 1960/1 season as a young tit,…my first ever CC game against Bolton. Heartbroken to lose 0-1, I remember city threw everything at England keeper Eddie Hopkinson but couldn’t score. The first of many disappointments following Cardiff City!
Lovely write-up, which includes a couple of pictures before and after redevelopment. K Looks like a good job being done with pitch, some sort of closed arena and other bits and bobs. Nice car park too......but what is that area top right? More parkjng? Solar panels? Sorry to digress from football matters!
