Middlesbrough Preview
By Mark Heys
January 19 2007
Bolton hope to have their skipper Kevin Nolan available as they go in search of their first league win of the new year away at Middlesbrough tommorow afternoon.
Nolan missed last weekend's goalless draw against Manchester City due to a rib injury but the Wanderers are hopeful that the midfielder will make a return to the starting line up at the Riverside Stadium.
Bolton have managed just one win at Boro in six previous Premiership visits and have picked up just two points from their trips to Teeside in the last five years since winning promotion back to the top flight.
Sam Allardyce is keen for that unwanted sequence to change as he aims for his side to keep up the pressure on the sides who are also gunning for European qualification.
As well as a possible return for Nolan, the Bolton manager is also able to call upon the services of Abdoulaye Faye after the big defender missed the last game through suspension.
Defensive trio Henrik Pedersen (calf), Quinton Fortune (ankle) and Joey O'Brien (knee) are all injured and are ruled out of the party which is travelling to the North East.
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has doubts over the experienced George Boateng and defenders Chris Riggott and Stuart Parnaby. Boateng has had a troublesome calf problem whilst Riggott and Parnaby have both been receiving treatment for knee injuries.
Massimo Maccarone, Robert Huth, Matthew Bates and Tony McMahon are all long term injury casualties with three out of the four being ruled out for the most part of the season that is left.
PREMIERSHIP RECORD
09/09/1995 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (McGinlay) MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Hignett)
17/02/1996 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Pollock) BOLTON WANDERERS 4 (Blake, Coleman, De Freitas, Lee)
21/08/2001 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Ricketts) MIDDLESBROUGH 0
19/01/2002 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Whelan) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Hansen)
05/10/2002 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Ehiogu, Geremi) BOLTON WANDERERS 0
11/05/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Frandsen, Okocha) MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Ricketts)
13/09/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Davies, N'Gotty) MIDDLESBROUGH 0
03/04/2004 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Nolan (OG), Greening) BOLTON WANDERERS 0
07/11/2004 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Boateng) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Pedersen)
12/02/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 0
26/03/2006 MIDDLESBROUGH 4 (Hasselbaink 2, Viduka, Parnaby) BOLTON WANDERERS 3 (Giannakopoulos, Okocha, Jaidi)
03/05/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Vaz-Te) MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Johnson)
16/09/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 0
PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:
Played: 13
Won: 4
Drawn: 6
Lost: 3
CONNECTIONS
Ian Bailey, Anthony Barness, Andy Campbell, Simon Coleman, Neil Cox, Andy Dibble, Allan Johnston, Alan Kernaghan, Gary Parkinson, Jimmy Phillips, Jamie Pollock, Kevin Poole, Michael Ricketts, Bruce Rioch, Stuart Ripley, Walter Rowley, Andy Todd, Colin Todd, Tom Woodward
IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED BORO
In this fixture two seasons ago Jussi Jaaskelainen was sent off in the final minute of the game for a foul on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Boro scored the resulting free kick past their former goalkeeper Kevin Poole to equalise.
Florent Laville played his last ever game for Bolton against Boro in September 2003. The French centre half was stretchered off with serious knee ligament damage which kept him out of action for over a year.
Jamie Pollock scored against Bolton in their first ever visit to the Riverside Stadium in February 1996.
Michael Ricketts scored his first Boro goal against Bolton on the final day of the 2002-2003 season just five months after leaving Wanderers in a contraversial transfer
Four out of the last five meetings between these two sides have ended in a draw. Boro came out on top in a 4-3 thriller at the Riverside in this fixture just under a year ago with Stuart Parnaby netting a last minute winner