IN-FORM Wanderers have been urged to stick to the gameplan as they enter one of the Football League least hospitable arenas.

Ian Evatt’s side head to newly promoted Port Vale looking to preserve an undefeated start to the season, having scored eight goals in their previous two outings at home.

Inside the camp, however, serious analysis has been done on how to best re-create the club’s excellent home form when they travel away from the University of Bolton Stadium.

In Vale Park, Evatt, admits there are few tougher places to learn.

“It smells of aggression, it just does,” he said of the Potteries club, who won last season’s League Two play-offs under Darrell Clarke.

“The pitch is huge – and I think that is a positive thing for us and the way we play but other than that, I think it is one of the most intimidating places I ever played.

“When you enter the arena you see the fans and there is a fear factor that we have to rise above and be the best versions of ourselves.”

Wanderers will be backed by more than 3,000 away fans who have clamoured for tickets despite a rail strike.

The last time supporters packed behind the goal in Burslem goals from David Wheater and Gary Madine put Bolton on the verge of automatic promotion in 2017.

And with similar intentions among the modern-day squad, Evatt says mental tests such as the one facing his side on Saturday are ones they must pass.

“We know what is coming at Port Vale. There’s no denying it,” he said.

“We just have to turn up and make sure we implement our style on them. If we do, we have to back ourselves to win. If we don’t, then we know what will happen.”

Wanderers won on their last visit to Vale, Gethin Jones’s solitary strike proving a big step forward in the promotion from League Two in 2020.

Alongside skipper Ricardo Santos, who is due to return from a foot injury, Jones is the only survivor of a crazy 6-3 defeat against the Valiants early in Evatt’s reign.

“I would be interested to see how many players are still around from that game – probably two?” he recalled.

“I was still thinking it would be six all in the second half, there were so many chances.

“That game is more of a marker for this club to look back and see how far we have actually travelled.

“It is a good place to be at the moment. But we are in the here and now, there is a lot of football to be played. We can’t allow ourselves to get over-excited or carried away with a couple of good performances, nor a couple of bad ones, we just have to stick together in the good times and the bad.”