Wanderers started their pre-season schedule with an emphatic victory against North West Counties side Longridge Town at the Recycling Lives Ground.
Kyle Dempsey, Elias Kachunga, Amadou Bakayoko, Dion Charles, George Johnston, Jón Daði Böðvarsson, and Dapo Afolayan were all on the scoresheet with Ian Evatt fielding a first-half eleven and a second-half eleven in their first outing of the summer.
It took the Whites just eleven minutes to get off the mark through Dempsey who latched onto Bakayoko’s reverse pass into the box before firing a shot under the body of former Wanderers academy stopper, James Aspinall.
Aspinall kept the margin to just a single goal with a flurry of saves shortly afterwards, to keep out Kachunga and Kieran Sadlier’s fierce drives before reacting well to deny Dempsey from close range moments later.
Midway through the first half, Kachunga doubled Wanderers’ lead. Jack Iredale impressed during his first 45 minutes in a Bolton shirt and his incisive pass sent Dempsey in the clear and the midfielder squared the ball for Kachunga to net from six yards out.
Bakayoko went close with a curling effort from the edge of the box, and a few minutes later just before the break, he allowed a pass to run across his body before firing an unstoppable left-footed shot into the top corner leaving Aspinall with no chance.
Ian Evatt’s second-half eleven included Liverpool loanee Conor Bradley and within just nine minutes of the restart, he played a big part in the next goal. Winning the ball high up the field, he played the ball to Northern Ireland teammate Dion Charles who made it four with a tidy finish from 12-yards out.
The duo linked up again for the fifth goal with Bradley latching onto Aaron Morley’s superb through ball to cap a superb team move by squaring the ball to Charles who added his second and Wanderers’ fifth of the evening.
The sixth goal came with just over twenty minutes to go and Morley was once again heavily involved; this time, his pin-point corner delivery into the box was powered into the back of the net by the head of Johnston.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, Wanderers scored a seventh goal with Charles sealing his hat-trick. Bradley was bundled to the ground inside the box and the Wanderers' number 10 made no mistake with his spot-kick.
Jón Daði Böðvarsson added an eighth goal with a shot from distance that managed to find its way past the Longridge substitute goalkeeper and Dapo Afolayan got in on the act with a cross-shot that caught out the goalkeeper and nestled into the bottom corner of the goal.
Wanderers First Half XI: Dixon, Aimson, Almeida Santos, Iredale, Sadlier, Conway, Tutte, Lee, Dempsey, Kachunga, Bakayoko.
Wanderers Second Half XI: Trafford, Jones, Senior, Johnston, Bradley, John, Thomason, Morley, Afolayan, Böðvarsson, Charles.
Unused Subs: Hutchinson, Stanley, Tweedley, Pettifer, Toure.
Goals: Dempsey (11), Kachunga (24), Bakayoko (41), Charles (54, 61, 75 pen), Johnston (69), Böðvarsson (78), Afolayan (83).
Photos: Kevin Hayden