IN a season where FA Cup traditions have already been eroded, Wanderers may have to take a practical approach when they travel to Walsall this weekend.

The controversial decision to do-away with replays means this is the first time in Bolton’s history that they will play a first-round tie in this competition knowing it must be settled the same day.

Ian Evatt may view it as a blessing, given the injuries that his squad have accumulated of late, that extra time and penalties await at the Bescot Stadium if the two sides are level after 90 minutes.

Never a great risk-taker with his cup selections, the Wanderers boss has hinted that he will make changes, even play some players out of position, when they face League Two’s second-placed team.

Wanderers have won six of their last eight, so momentum becomes a valuable commodity with only a couple of games remaining before the international break.

Evatt admitted after the midweek win at Stevenage that both he and his players still had some work to do making supporters “believe” and though priorities clearly lie in League One, there is nothing quite like a cup run to galvanise a fanbase.

Last season’s run to the third round – which included a last-ever replay against Premier League Luton Town – helped Evatt break what had been a wretched run as player and manager in the competition. Though he remains mindful of fixture backlogs, the extra financial rewards this year in lieu of replays make progress more rewarding than ever.

A win on Saturday will be worth £45,000 from the FA purse, and just turning up will generate £15,000 – and to follow the same path as last season, Bolton could add £145,000 in prize money alone.

Walsall has not been a happy hunting ground for Wanderers for quite some time, in fact they have failed to beat the Saddlers away from home in eight of their last nine attempts in all competitions, a run which stretches 40 years.

Former electrician Tony Caldwell famously grabbed five goals against them as a part-time player in an 8-1 rout at Burnden Park in September 1983, which prompted a frosty reception in the Midlands the following January.

As the story goes, home boss Alan Buckley pulled out all the stops to make sure Bolton felt uncomfortable when they travelled to Fellows Park – turning off hot water and heating in the away dressing rooms and supplied under-inflated balls to John McGovern’s side for the warm-up.

The plan worked, Walsall won 1-0 and Caldwell got an early (cold) shower after being shown a red card.

“There was a lot of intimidation,” Caldwell recalled in an interview with us in 2018. “Elbows were flying everywhere and eventually I just snapped.

“The centre-half had done it one too many times and I kicked out at him and ended up getting sent off... You can take a lad out of Salford!”

Since then, the only win Wanderers have recorded in Walsall was back in 2006, when Nicolas Anelka scored his first-ever goal for the club following a record £8million move from Fenerbahce.

Kevin Nolan and Ivan Campo also scored on the night, but the Frenchman would have to wait several weeks for his first league strike, which memorably came in a home win against Arsenal.

The night was not remembered fondly in the Allardyce household, however, for it coincided with the BBC’s Panorama documentary that brought so many unwanted headlines at the time.

Wanderers’ last meeting with Walsall was towards the end of their League Two promotion campaign in 2021, with Eoin Doyle scoring a late winning goal from the penalty spot.

Kieran Lee had earlier cancelled out a goal from Sam Berry, and the game had turned in Bolton’s favour when old boy Hayden White was sent off 17 minutes before the end.