Bolton Wanderers: We pick a 'best of the rest' opposition XI

Fixtures will be released on June 26 at 9am, including new relatively names at this level such as Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town, Wrexham and Crawley.

But there will be plenty of familiar faces too, and as we start to pack up last season’s disappointment and look towards a new campaign, we thought we would cast our eye to the 23 other clubs in the division and examine some of the best talents to have played against Bolton.

According to stats website Whoscored.com, Carlisle United’s Jordan Gibson was the only player to register a ‘perfect 10’ score against Wanderers last season.

Wigan Athletic striker Charlie Wyke was the only other player to score more than a nine, after he netted twice at the Toughsheet in a forgettable 4-0 defeat back in August.

The best scores achieved against Bolton Wanderers this season on Whoscored.com (Image: NQNW)

The pure numbers don’t always tell the true story, however, as it tends to be weighted heavily towards those who directly score or assist a goal. Some players caught the eye against Bolton without necessarily getting the big marks to prove it.

Here, we pick out our own opposition XI that we’d be happy not to face every week.

Goalkeeper – Will Norris.

Picking a keeper was a tough task, as three of the best individual performances came from players who also made mistakes against Bolton in a previous game. Barnsley’s Liam Roberts, Shrewsbury’s Marko Marosi fall into that category, and Derby’s Joe Wildsmith was – a touch unfairly – sent off in their 1-0 defeat at Wanderers in September.

Norris always looked solid, especially when Pompey came to town looking to seal promotion in April. His record through the season speaks for itself.

Defender – Josh Earl.

Played well for not one but two clubs against Wanderers, initially for Fleetwood but later for Barnsley too. The former Preston North End defender had a short loan spell with the Whites which didn’t amount to much with the club in a confused state at the time, but he looks to have progressed, looks happy to play football from the back, and roll his sleeves up when necessary.

Portsmouth's Conor Shaughnessy battles for the ball with Dion Charles (Image: Camerasport)

Defender – Conor Shaughnessy.

Hugely popular at Fratton Park, Irish centre-half Shaughnessy is another one who gave very little away in his couple of games against the Whites. One of those defenders to whom the ball seems magnetically drawn in the penalty box, and always in the way.

Defender – Eiran Cashin.

Not the biggest centre-back around but you don’t see Cashin bettered regularly in the air or on the floor. He was excellent when Bolton were trying to batter down the door at Pride Park, and you can see him coping easily with the step up in class to the Championship.

Blackpool's Karamoko Dembele tries to escape the attentions of Jack Iredale (Image: Camerasport)

Midfield – Karamoko Dembele.

Not sure this lad will be playing in League One for very long. Finished the season with eight goals and 13 assists and looked the part in that horrible game at Bloomfield Road.

Dembele has pace, good movement, plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and can change a game in an instant – either from a central position or out on the right side.

Midfielder – Adam Phillips.

Never shy to have a shot at goal from any part of the pitch, Phillips always seems extra motivated against Wanderers. Strangely, the first leg of the play-offs was the first time he had finished up on the losing side against Bolton in 10 previous meetings.

Phillips scored in the second leg to bring Barnsley right back into it, finishing the season with 12 league goals and six assists to his name.

Midfield – Lewis Wing.

Seems to have been around for absolutely ages but the former Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder is still only 28 and played well, even as Reading were well-beaten at Wanderers in March.

Came up with some big goals at the end of the season for the Royals. Also took the captain’s armband, which can’t have been an easy gig with everything going on at the moment.

Oxford United's Cameron Brannagan puts his foot in against Paris Maghoma (Image: Camerasport)

Midfield – Cameron Branagan.

Not wanting to dredge up too many bad memories of the play-off final but before he succumbed to injury, Branagan really was excellent. He also played well in the goalless draw at the Kassam Stadum earlier in the season.

Oxford have had to dig deep into their pockets to keep the former Liverpool trainee in League One but he has been instrumental in them eventually getting out of the division.

Midfielder – Ephron Mason-Clark.

Not exactly stuck our neck out here by hailing the soon-to-be Coventry City winger as one to watch, but I do curse the day the Sky Blues said he could go back out on loan to Posh for the rest of the season. Would have made life a lot easier if he had packed up to the Championship.

Electric pace, direct, and with his end product improving all the time. I’d expect Peterborough to be collecting some sell-on fees quite soon when a bigger club comes calling.

Eoin Toal makes a clearance ahead of Stevenage striker Jamie Reid (Image: Camerasport)

Striker – Jamie Reid.

Made life very awkward for Wanderers as he scored twice for Stevenage back in October. Ricardo Santos was not in the team that night, and Steve Evans’s side made life really difficult for a makeshift defensive line-up, but the Northern Ireland international also showed up well in the goalless draw later in the season, with the Wanderers captain back in situ.

Striker – Sam Cosgrove.

Hadn’t started many games for Barnsley this season but after coming off the bench in the play-off semi-final and grabbing a crucial consolation goal there was a clamour to see him start the second leg ahead of top scorer Devante Cole.

Cosgrove was almost unplayable in the second leg, scoring twice and very nearly leaving Wanderers red-faced.

And on the bench: Wigan’s Sam Tickle has to be there as back-up keeper – he certainly deserves that much – and I was impressed with Jordan Gabriel at Blackpool but he got nudged out of my starting line-up because I had to play a back three.

Fleetwood loanee Bosun Lawal showed up well and can play either in defence or as a holding midfielder and Portsmouth’s Abu Kamara looked dangerous, especially when Pompey came to Bolton at the end of the season.

Josh Murphy has to be included because of what he did in the play-off final – and I’m picking him ahead of Wigan’s Thelo Aasgaard, who played really well when Wigan beat Bolton at the DW.

It would be unfair to leave out Carlisle’s Jordan Gibson after netting four goals in his two outings against Bolton, and another Wiganer, Stephen Humphrys gets the nod ahead of Leyton Orient’s Dan Agyei for the final place on the bench.