All the team news and match information ahead of tonight's Capital One Cup tie at Crawley
Crawley Town v Bolton Wanderers
Capital One Cup Second Round
Tuesday 28 August, 2012
Kick-Off 7.45pm
Setting The Scene
Wanderers’ Capital One Cup campaign gets underway on Tuesday evening with a testing trip to face Sussex-based club Crawley Town in a second round tie.
Bolton enter the cup at this stage with Blackburn Rovers – the two highest ranked Football League teams from last season – and any Premier League clubs not competing in the Champions League and Europa League.
Tuesday’s game will be the first meeting between the two sides in history.
Crawley, who have secured back-to-back promotions to earn their current League One status, have a decent record in cup competitions against higher league opposition. This will be the sixth time Crawley have faced Championship sides in cup competitions in the last 19 months – they have lost just one of those ties.
Despite losing manager Steve Evans to Rotherham at the back end of last season, the Red Devils, as they are often know, still went onto to secure automatic promotion with a third placed finish.
Sean O’Driscoll took over during the summer but was soon swayed to move to Nottingham Forest despite having not overseen a competitive game in the managerial hotseat.
In the end the Crawley board turned to Bury’s Richie Barker, who has guided the side to a successful start in England’s third tier securing memorable wins over Scunthorpe and most recently Doncaster Rovers.
Crawley beat Millwall on penalties to get to this stage of the competition.
One interested party come 7.45pm on Tuesday will be ex-Wanderer Mark Connolly. The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international spent three years at Bolton, but failed to registered a senior appearance.
Team News
David Ngog is expected to miss the game, as he steps up his recovery from a back problem. The French striker played 45 minutes in a development squad game against Norwich City on Monday afternoon.
Benik Afobe could be given the nod upfront, with the on-loan Arsenal striker eligible to play in cup competitions.
David Wheater and Stuart Holden are both still absent.
Crawley are expected to have a full strength squad from which to choose.
One To Watch – Jonathan Forte
Whilst he may not be able to point to a prolific record in front of goal, Sheffield-born Barbados international Forte has all the attributes with which to cause problems for opposing defenders.
Quick, strong and powerful, Forte, currently on loan from Southampton, scored on his Crawley debut against former club Scunthorpe.
Man In The Middle
Graham Scott will take charge of the game. The Oxfordshire-based official oversaw 38 games throughout the Football League last season and showed 129 yellow and nine red cards in the process.
Fan Information
The game is an all-ticket clash on police advice.
Otherwise, fans who aren’t making the trip south are able to listen to full match commentary on Wanderers Player. The broadcast starts at 7.15pm, with listeners able to send their thoughts to the show using the matchay@bwfc.co.uk email address. For more information click here.
Fans can also follow all the action via the club’s interactive minute-by-minute matchday service.