Preview: Coventry City (A)

Wanderers make the trip to St.Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium tomorrow to take on promotion-chasing Coventry City in Sky Bet League One.

Coventry are currently 5th in the table and in a good position to try and break into the automatic promotion places currently occupied by Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers.

Mark Robins’ side had embarked on a run to the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup but were beaten on penalties in an ‘away tie’ against Birmingham City at their shared home earlier this week.

City come into the weekend’s match buoyed by a run which has seen them go seven league matches unbeaten. Edged out in mid-December at Shrewsbury Town, since then they have picked up impressive victories against Lincoln City, Wycombe Wanderers, Tranmere Rovers, Doncaster Rovers and Bristol Rovers

Team News

In his pre-match press conference with bwfc.co.uk, Wanderers manager Keith Hill said that Jack Hobbs and Ali Crawford are progressing well with their recovery from lengthy injury lay-offs and new-signings Ryan Delaney and Jacob Mellis could come into contention.

Head to Head

Wanderers have faced Coventry City on 22 occasions, since the very first meeting between the two teams in the FA Cup in January 1950.

Bolton edged the tie on that particular Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 win at Highfield Road, but Coventry have the upper-hand overall with 8 wins and 10 draws comparing to four Wanderers victories.

The two teams fought out a goalless draw at the University of Bolton Stadium in August as Wanderers were forced to field a team largely made up of teenagers. The average age of the starting eleven was marginally over 19 years old and the team that day will forever be fondly remembered for a courageous display against a strong and far more experienced opponent.

Match Coverage

As usual, match updates will be provided by the club’s official twitter account (@OfficialBWFC). We will keep you up to date with the action to ensure you don’t miss a kick – delivering a match report shortly after the final whistle with post-match reaction from manager, Keith Hill.

Live commentary will also be available by the iFollow BWFC channel (subscribe via the website), with the BBC Radio Manchester team providing the coverage.

Betting Odds

Coventry come into the game as favourites at the time of writing according to Sky Bet, and are being priced at 2/5 to win the game.

Wanderers are regarded as underdogs and are priced at 13/2 to win the game, with a draw being priced at 10/3.

Man in the Middle

Saturday’s match will be officiated by Ross Joyce. He will be assisted by Paul Lister and Christopher Ward with Matthew Jones appointed as the fourth official.

Joyce has officiated 24 matches this season, with the most recent being Fleetwood Town’s 2-1 home victory against Doncaster Rovers last weekend.

So far this campaign he has handed out 109 yellow cards (4.54 per game) and four red cards (0.17 per game).

Currently in his twelfth season as a referee, Joyce has refereed the Whites three times, with the Wanderers registering two wins and a draw in those fixtures. The most recent Bolton game he officiated was Boxing Day’s goalless draw at Sunderland earlier in the season.

Key man for the Sky Blues – Maxime Biamou

Featuring in the goalless draw between the two sides in August, French forward Maxime Biamou registered his ninth goal of the season in Tuesday night’s entertaining FA Cup tie against Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City.

The 29 year-old started his career in France and stayed there until signing for non-league Sutton United in 2016. Spending just a season there, he scored 13 goals in all competitions during the 2016/17 season before a move up the ladder to sign for Coventry City.

Not always a constant in the team since his arrival at the club over two and-a-half years ago, Biamou is playing good stuff under Mark Robins and will be hoping to retain a starting berth.

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