How Bolton Wanderers could line up against Crawley Town
Steven Schumacher takes charge of his first game at the Toughsheet Community Stadium as Wanderers host Crawley Town.
Schumacher has had a full week on the training pitch with his new squad following last weekend's late defeat at Reading.
A positive result could see the Whites climb back into the play-off places depending on results elsewhere in the division.
Team news
Ricardo Santos will not be involved this weekend. The towering defender has had an injection and Wanderers hope to have him back on the grass at some point next week.
George Thomason is also unavailable as the skipper serves the first of a two-match ban for reaching 10 yellow cards.
However, Jay Matete is back available after serving his three-game ban for violent conduct against Charlton.
Carlos Mendes Gomes is sidelined after picking up a knock in training, while Kyle Dempsey is a long-term absentee.
There have been a 'couple of niggles and illnesses' in the opposition camp but no major injury concerns.
Opposition lowdown
Crawley currently find themselves in the relegation zone, although they have at least one game in hand on the sides around them.
Rob Elliot's side were denied a point against Wrexham last weekend after Elliot Lee nodded home the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Crawley have won one of their last nine matches in the league and sit six points from safety at this stage.
Despite their league position, only Birmingham have higher average possession figures than Saturday's opponents this season.
Head-to-head
Wanderers have only faced Crawley four times in competitive matches, with a record of two wins and two defeats.
The Whites ran out 2-0 winners at the Broadfield Stadium earlier this season thanks to goals from Kyle Dempsey and John McAtee either side of half time.
Crawley won on their last trip to Bolton in January 2021, with George Francomb getting the decisive goal in the League Two fixture. Reiss Greenidge was shown a late red card that day.
Predicted line-up
(Image: buildlineup.com)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
York City and a ‘3UP' campaign intended to make football a little less silly
FAIR GAME? With a reduced slate of action and few transfers of note this week in the men's or women's game (unless you count Mainz signing forward and renowned Gwen Stefani fan Benedict Hollerbach), and still no word on Arne Slot's new residency in Ibiza, Football Daily was fast running out of content for Tuesday's missive. So thank goodness for the open letter from York City owner Julie-Anne Uggla addressed to the National League and the Football League, regarding the 'structurally unjust' promotion system in the fifth tier of English football, which sees just the regular season winners (this season: Barnet) and one playoff winner go up from six teams, who finished second to seventh. Hurray! Advertisement Uggla is a supporter of the 3UP campaign, which proposes that there should be three (not two) teams promoted from the National League, adopting a similar system to the rest of the Football League. In the Championship, League One and League Two, at least two teams are promoted automatically (three in League Two!), with an additional team going up via the playoffs. It might surprise you to learn that York finished second in the National League, and failed to make the playoff final. Instead, Oldham Athletic, the feeder club of Football Daily's five-a-side team Old and Unathletic, returned to the EFL after beating Southend in the playoff final. For reference, Oldham and Southend finished 23 and 28 points behind York in the regular season, respectively. 'Such a glaring imbalance not only undermines sporting merit but erodes the very foundations of fair competition,' fumed Uggla. 'To dominate a league campaign so comprehensively (Barnet the only exception), only to be forced into a playoff lottery, is structurally unjust. It penalises excellence and rewards clubs with fewer points in a way no professional league system should condone. I urge both governing bodies to urgently consider transitional reform, whether via immediate review, temporary relief measures, or an accelerated implementation of the '3UP' model,' she continued. 'At the very least, this season's outcome should provoke an honest re-evaluation of what fairness in football truly means.' Uggla certainly has a valid point and the principle of fighting for 'fairness' on behalf of all football teams in the National League is a noble one, even if it is slightly soured by the fact that York, having finished second, would have been the key beneficiaries of a change. It might have been stronger for someone without a vested interest to lead the charge here, seeing as York started this season knowing full well what the format and rules were and only initially signed up to the '3UP' model in February, when they were unexpectedly in a three-horse race for the title. Uggla, who bought York in 2023, might also be unaware that the club have benefited from odd football rules of the past: City escaped dropping out of the Football League (the old Third Division) in 1977-78 season when relegation back then was decided not by league placing but by a vote where existing member clubs would just decide which one of the bottom teams would keep their place. Automatic relegation/promotion to/from the fifth tier did not exist at all until 1987, and the second playoff place was only introduced in 2003. All of that aside, Uggla is speaking sense. It is a little silly that York, who finished second on 96 points, were not promoted. But football is a bit silly, and had City instead finished seventh, would Uggla have been so vocal in fighting the good fight? I guess we'll never know. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE Join Yara El-Shaboury from 6pm BST for minute-by-minute coverage of Spain 3-1 England in the Women's Nations League. QUOTE OF THE DAY 'Of course that reaches you, but we don't care … actually, in fact, I would say thanks to them because it can be extra motivation, petrol to fuel you. And we won. Let them talk and do all the memes they want now' – Pedro Porro gets his chat on with Sid Lowe about Tottenham's Bigger Vase triumph, the 'Spursy' tag and Ange Postecoglou's future in N17. FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS Re: yesterday's Football Daily. At least Inter didn't experience what the Italian team did when they returned home from England in 1966 after a dreadful World Cup. They had tomatoes thrown at them when they landed at the airport in Italy' – John Jones. In the past four years, I have gone from procrastinating at work, in exactly the same job, by endlessly writing to The Fiver to endlessly writing to Football Daily, whereas Vitinha has gone from his only goal at on loan at Wolves (one that wasn't even taken up by Wolves) to this. But, being a high achiever is vastly overrated, probably …' – Noble Francis. While searching for a receipt for a large donut order, I stumbled across an old tea-timely newsletter titled: 'Performing donuts in the centre circle in a car with square wheels.' I was struck by this particular quote: 'So Leicester City's dream of joining Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa in the pantheon of unlikely European champions is over. A terrible shame but on the flip side they don't look like becoming irrelevant second-tier mediocrities any time soon, so it's swings and roundabouts.' While some things do change, it's reassuring to know that your curse of the commentator will always come true eventually' – Ian James. Advertisement If you do have any, please send letters to Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is … John Jones. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. RECOMMENDED LISTENING It's a Football Weekly end-of-season mailbag special. RECOMMENDED LOOKING Here's David Squires on … the PSG fairytale. • This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Students get chance of a lifetime to report live from Wembley Stadium
Eight Southampton Solent University students reported live from Wembley Stadium. The sports journalism students were given press box accreditation for the English Football League (EFL) 2025 League One and League Two play-off finals. The students, who were given the opportunity by a Solent University graduate now working for the EFL, watched on as Charlton and AFC Wimbledon gained promotion. They were tasked with producing web, TV, and social media content for their university outlet, Solent Sports News. Ed Groves beneath the Wembley arch (Image: Southampton Solent University) Third-year student Freddie Dorman said: "I had the best time ever and still can't get my head around it." Second-year student Ed Groves said: "It was the best experience ever and I felt like I learnt a lot. "The noise is something I could never have anticipated - the roar of the Wembley crowd took getting used to when writing the live blog. "However, I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush of providing quick updates as they happened." Freddie Dorman in the press box at Wembley (Image: Southampton Solent University) First-year student Harvey Gerring was a camera operator who also produced a behind-the-scenes video. He said: "It was wonderful to be surrounded by journalists and pundits, such as Jobi McAnuff, Mark McAdam, Geoff Shreeves, and Gary Taphouse. "Recording interviews with fans on Wembley Way whilst thousands of Wimbledon and Walsall fans headed towards the stadium was a unique experience that doesn't come around often." David Reilly, senior lecturer in sports journalism, said: "There are many experienced sports journalists who have never got to report on a live game at Wembley Stadium, so this is a huge experience for our students. "On the course, we make sure that they gain match-day experience, and enforce tight deadlines, but there is nothing like doing it for real on the biggest stage." The 2025 play-off weekend was officially the most successful ever, with 209,000 fans in attendance over three days. Graduates of Southampton Solent University's BA (Hons) Sports Journalism and MA Sports Broadcast Journalism are working in TV, radio, social media, and newspapers at Sky Sports, TNT Sport, BBC Sport, TalkSport, IMG, Premier League Productions, ESPN, Two Circles, Tottenham Hotspur, and Southampton FC, to name a few.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Crewe midfielder Lunt signs new one-year contract
Owen Lunt made his first-team debut for Crewe as an 18-year-old in the EFL Trophy in November 2022 [Rex Features] Crewe midfielder Owen Lunt has signed a new one-year contract with the League Two club. The 20-year-old played 23 times for the Alex this season, either side of a three-month loan with National League North side Southport. Advertisement Lunt, nephew of Crewe legend Kenny Lunt, has been with the club for more than 10 years. Four of his five starts in 2024-25 came in the last four games of the season as Crewe finished in ninth place, eight points outside the play-offs. Lunt's new deal has the option for an additional 12 months and follows the club's recent signing of Harrogate Town's top goalscorer Josh March on a two-year contract.
