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Wanderers will be using tonight’s Leasing.com Trophy clash with Manchester City’s kids to regain momentum lost after the weekend’s postponement at Lincoln.
Keith Hill plans to name a strong side to help his preparations in the league, and potentially gain the victory needed to progress to the knockout stages of the competition.
City have already qualified, beating both Bradford City and Rochdale, but Bolton are in a good position to gain second spot despite having lost on penalties in both their games so far.
Hill believes City’s youngsters will eventually lift the trophy – which could prove controversial among those who claim the involvement of Premier League development teams is bad for the game.
“I’m a great fan of Manchester City, especially the Under-23s, and I think it’s only a matter of time before they win this Leasing.com Trophy,” he said. “They are exceptional, a mirror image of the first team and everything they try to do.
“It’ll be a difficult game regardless of whichever side I select. But I want momentum. I want our identity to be evident as well.
“I still see it as day two of a week, a session that I want to use to its fullest extent. I’m probably going to play a strong squad because we didn’t play Saturday and that leads us nicely into Fleetwood.
“From our perspective it’s a training exercise to improve the group we’ve got at this moment in time.”
Wanderers will have a similar squad to that which travelled to Lincoln with no immediate return expected for Thibaud Verlinden (groin) or Jack Hobbs (back).
Hill has had to tweak his game-plan to accommodate injuries but feels his players are now starting to gel into a stronger unit.
“Sometimes how you go about games is affected by opponents, some are better than you and it’s difficult to employ your own tactics on them,” he added.
“But I believe we’re in a position where we can show what we are trying to achieve. I think we have done it quite consistently since the Rotherham game.”
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Keith Hill plans to name a strong side to help his preparations in the league, and potentially gain the victory needed to progress to the knockout stages of the competition.
City have already qualified, beating both Bradford City and Rochdale, but Bolton are in a good position to gain second spot despite having lost on penalties in both their games so far.
Hill believes City’s youngsters will eventually lift the trophy – which could prove controversial among those who claim the involvement of Premier League development teams is bad for the game.
“I’m a great fan of Manchester City, especially the Under-23s, and I think it’s only a matter of time before they win this Leasing.com Trophy,” he said. “They are exceptional, a mirror image of the first team and everything they try to do.
“It’ll be a difficult game regardless of whichever side I select. But I want momentum. I want our identity to be evident as well.
“I still see it as day two of a week, a session that I want to use to its fullest extent. I’m probably going to play a strong squad because we didn’t play Saturday and that leads us nicely into Fleetwood.
“From our perspective it’s a training exercise to improve the group we’ve got at this moment in time.”
Wanderers will have a similar squad to that which travelled to Lincoln with no immediate return expected for Thibaud Verlinden (groin) or Jack Hobbs (back).
Hill has had to tweak his game-plan to accommodate injuries but feels his players are now starting to gel into a stronger unit.
“Sometimes how you go about games is affected by opponents, some are better than you and it’s difficult to employ your own tactics on them,” he added.
“But I believe we’re in a position where we can show what we are trying to achieve. I think we have done it quite consistently since the Rotherham game.”
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