Sports Blog 21/03/2017: League One Preview – Oxford United vs Bolton, Tuesday 21st March 2017

Can Bolton gain a firmer foothold on automatic promotion with a victory over Oxford United, at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1?

Despite standing a slim chance of winning League One outright, thanks to Sheffield United having a 9 point advantage after playing one more game, the Wanderers can ease the pressure they are feeling from 3rd place Fleetwood Town with an Oxonion triumph this Tuesday evening. After a fairly dreary February Bolton are back in form, with 3 wins on the trot against Gillingham, Northampton Town and, crucially, the aforementioned Fleetwood.



Interesting it is the meanness of Bolton’s defence rather than the thrust of their attack that is Phil Parkinson’s side’s best attribute, with a league-lowest 32 goals conceded. Not that they are slouches up front either, finding the back of the net 56 times. However, compare this to Sheffield United’s 73 and the reason why Bolton may struggle to catch the Blades is perhaps revealed.

To put it simply, Bolton lack an all-star forward; while Sheffield has Billy Sharp and his 26 goals, the Wanderers’ top scorer is Zach Clough on 9 goals, and he doesn’t even play for the club anymore! Of the players actually at their disposal, both Josh Vela and Gary Madine have scored 8 goals in League One this season, and sit at Super mega PGM’s of 9-13 and 16-20 respectively.

While Bolton chases a place in the top 2, Oxford United are working on nabbing one of the play-off spots in just their first season back in League One. The U’s are currently in 9th place, 5 points behind Southend in 6th but with a game in hand; frustratingly, however, they are going through a bit of a sticky patch, losing 3 of their last 5 games.

It would be a huge boost to the confidence of Oxford if they could beat Bolton on Tuesday, something they have already done once this season. Our traders seem to think there is a slim chance it could happen, with Spreadex offering an Oxford/Bolton Goal Supremacy spread of 0.1-0.3 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.4-2.6.