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Phil Parkinson has rubbished suggestion Wanderers could “do without” a run in the EFL Cup.
Though the Whites boss will make changes at Blackpool tonight, he is demanding nothing less than the commitment shown in victory against Sheffield United on Saturday from the team he puts out.
Derik Osede, Ben Amos, Alex Finney, Tom Walker, Kaiyne Woolery and Liam Trotter are expected to be drafted in as Parkinson protects a handful of players who are feeling their way back to full fitness.
Darren Pratley is also out until October with a broken leg, which means a new man will wear the captain’s armband at Bloomfield Road.
The distraction of a cup run may be viewed as unnecessary for a squad the size of Bolton but Parkinson, who led Bradford City all the way to the final as a League Two side in 2013, will not use that as an excuse for failure on the Fylde Coast.
“I’ve got to be honest and say the league is the most important, which it is,” he said. “But I’ll play players who need minutes, put a bit of freshness in the team, but I don’t expect the effort levels to drop.
“I want the Bolton fans to drive away from the game having seen a performance with just as much commitment as they saw Saturday. If that’s enough to win the game, time will tell, but we need that 11 to try and maintain that momentum.
“You get a good draw in the next round it helps in terms of finances. Is that the be-all and end-all for us? No. But I still think this is a big game for us and we’ve got to put in a performance.”
Zach Clough returned to full training for the first time yesterday after a hamstring injury but he will be held back until the weekend, when Wanderers make their first-ever trip to AFC Wimbledon.
Standing in the way tonight are Gary Bowyer’s Blackpool, who beat Exeter City 2-0 at the weekend in their first game in League Two for 15 years.
“It doesn’t surprise me they started well at the weekend,” said Parkinson. “But it did surprise me they went down because they’d invested a bit of money in their front men.
“There were off-the-pitch problems which affected them but they have changed their squad considerably and I’d expect them to be in the top three by the end of the season.”
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Though the Whites boss will make changes at Blackpool tonight, he is demanding nothing less than the commitment shown in victory against Sheffield United on Saturday from the team he puts out.
Derik Osede, Ben Amos, Alex Finney, Tom Walker, Kaiyne Woolery and Liam Trotter are expected to be drafted in as Parkinson protects a handful of players who are feeling their way back to full fitness.
Darren Pratley is also out until October with a broken leg, which means a new man will wear the captain’s armband at Bloomfield Road.
The distraction of a cup run may be viewed as unnecessary for a squad the size of Bolton but Parkinson, who led Bradford City all the way to the final as a League Two side in 2013, will not use that as an excuse for failure on the Fylde Coast.
“I’ve got to be honest and say the league is the most important, which it is,” he said. “But I’ll play players who need minutes, put a bit of freshness in the team, but I don’t expect the effort levels to drop.
“I want the Bolton fans to drive away from the game having seen a performance with just as much commitment as they saw Saturday. If that’s enough to win the game, time will tell, but we need that 11 to try and maintain that momentum.
“You get a good draw in the next round it helps in terms of finances. Is that the be-all and end-all for us? No. But I still think this is a big game for us and we’ve got to put in a performance.”
Zach Clough returned to full training for the first time yesterday after a hamstring injury but he will be held back until the weekend, when Wanderers make their first-ever trip to AFC Wimbledon.
Standing in the way tonight are Gary Bowyer’s Blackpool, who beat Exeter City 2-0 at the weekend in their first game in League Two for 15 years.
“It doesn’t surprise me they started well at the weekend,” said Parkinson. “But it did surprise me they went down because they’d invested a bit of money in their front men.
“There were off-the-pitch problems which affected them but they have changed their squad considerably and I’d expect them to be in the top three by the end of the season.”
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