WANDERERS will be paying due respect to hosts Swindon Town this weekend as they look to finish a week of cup action on a high.
Steven Schumacher has kept a lid on any over-excitement after Tuesday night’s thrilling rout of Bradford City in the Vertu Trophy, and his team will learn of their next opposition in the last 16 just before kick-off at the County Ground.
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Another lucrative prize is at stake at Swindon, with a place in the third round and a potential shot at one of the Premier League giants on offer to the victor.
Knowing Wanderers will start as favourites, Schumacher intends to keep every part of his side’s preparations for the game as calm as possible in the hope his players can make their class tell on the day.
Asked if there would be a different psychology to the game against League Two opposition, he told The Bolton News: “I don’t think so, we have to respect them because they are going really well this season, they are playing with confidence themselves.
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“We have to prepare properly, not let anything distract us. We believe that if we play the way we have been playing, if we can show the same sort of attitude, pass the ball properly, be positive, be clinical with our chances, then we hope to have more quality because we are operating in a higher division.
“But there’ll be no letting off, no taking the game easy, we have to prepare for it, as we always do for every game.”
On the face of it, the task of picking a starting XI became more complicated for Schumacher at Swindon, given a handful of players furthered their cause with a stellar performance against Bradford.
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Wanderers had made nine changes on the night – but Saturday will not simply be a case of switching back to the same XI that turned out at Luton Town.
“We will say to all the players that this is a game we want to win, we want to be in that next round,” Schumacher said. “And whatever team that we pick we think it’s capable of putting in that good performance, getting the result, and we’re picking it for a reason.
“I think the players get it, everyone gets it now.
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“I’m on at them all the time and I have proven that I will make changes to a winning team, or a team that hasn’t been beaten for quite a while now if it’s what I think will get us the result.
“There’s no drama there. And if you are not selected, just be ready for the next one, because the chance will come quick.”
Wanderers will be without the suspended midfielder Xavier Simons, who picked up a red card at Luton but could bring Thierry Gale back into the squad after he missed the midweek game through suspension.
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The Barbados winger has not featured in the Whites’ last nine games because of a knee problem but travelled to Kenilworth Road and worked with the strength and conditioning coaches before the game alongside Joel Randall.