Steven Schumacher is hoping to set up the chance of another trip to Wembley and an opportunity to finish on the winning side, writes Pete Oliver.
Schumacher takes Wanderers to League One rivals Wrexham on Tuesday night in the quarter-finals of the Vertu Trophy (KO 7.30pm).
Victory in the Whites’ first trip to the Racecourse Ground since 1988 would secure a home tie against Peterborough in the last four and put Wanderers one more win away from a return to Wembley and the chance to reprise their 2023 triumph against a Plymouth Argyle side then managed by Schumacher.
“That day was fantastic,” admitted Wanderers’ recently-appointed head coach. “The two clubs, the two sets of fans, did themselves proud. It was a brilliant occasion. There were so many people inside the stadium and it was a great experience to be a part of.
“Obviously, it didn't go the way I wanted it to go, but from a Bolton point of view, I'm sure every one of our fans loved that day and will want a taste of that again.
“That's the exciting thing about this competition. Early on in the season when you're going through the group phases, you're predominantly trying to manage minutes of your squad. Then if you progress and you get your performances right and you get to the knock-out stages, it soon becomes apparent that you're not far away from what's a brilliant day.
“You're desperate to try and get over the line and get the wins that are going to give you the chance to do that, and that's what we'll be saying to the players tomorrow.
“The majority of them have got a taste of what it felt like. Obviously, there was the play-off final as well, the season after, and they understand how that went. If you can get back there and put in another good performance, if you can manage to get to it, then that's what they'll all be desperate to try and do.”
Wanderers will have to make a number of changes to the side that beat Crawley Town last Saturday when they take on a Wrexham side contesting their first quarter-final in the competition since they won the tournament in 2005.
Aaron Morley, Joel Randall and loan signing Alex Murphy, who scored the Whites’ second goal in the thrilling 4-3 win which lifted Schumacher's men up to seventh in the table, are all cup-tied, while Szabi Schön serves a competition-specific one-match ban.
However, captain George Thomason is eligible to play between a two-match league suspension and the competition’s top scorer Aaron Collins – with six goals from five appearances this season – could come back into contention after recovering well from the hip injury which ruled him out of Saturday’s success.
That victory – a first under Schumacher – made it three wins from Wanderers’ last four games and the boss is keen to try and maintain the momentum as his side also pursues a play-off challenge in League One.
“Winning breeds confidence and getting that win on Saturday here against Crawley was huge for us, in what was a really good performance in the main,” Schumacher added.
“To get the three points was excellent and now you want to continue that. We want to go to Wrexham and win that game and if we can do that against one of the stronger teams in the division, then we go on to the next game with that momentum and belief that we can go to places away from home, and at home, and win.
“So that's what we'll try and do, take every game seriously, give 100 per cent effort, as you would expect, and try and win it.”
Watch the manager’s full pre-match interview on Wanderers TV