Kieran Sadlier believes Ipswich Town will be up there as contenders for the summit of League One but says Bolton Wanderers are aiming to beat the Tractor Boys and prove they are one of the best in the division too.
Wanderers begin the new League One campaign tomorrow afternoon against the Tractor Boys. The Whites will make the long journey to Suffolk and Portman Road.
The Suffolk side finished below Wanderers in the table, but have strengthened this summer in a bid to earn promotion out of the division. Freddie Ladapo, Dom Ball, Greg Legh, Marcus Harness, Leif Davis and the loan signing of Tyreece John-Jules from Arsenal have been acquisitions in a strong window for the Portman Road club.
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But Wanderers have fared well against Championship opposition in pre-season. A draw against Huddersfield Town, a win over Watford and a tight loss to Wigan Athletic have been among the results.
Sadlier has taken encouragement from the pre-season performances against Watford and the Terriers in particular, with differnences between the two. He feels tomorrow's clash against the Tractor Boys is a 'huge' game and one he hopes Wanderers can come out on top of.
He said: "It is a huge game, it is a big club. Obviously, they will be one of the contenders as well I think. But that is what we want to do.
"We want to go to the best teams in the league and beat them, and I would say we are up there with the best teams in the league as well. We want to do that and if we can do that, we can do anything.
"I think our performance against Watford and our performance (vs Huddersfield) were two different performances. Against Watford, we got one of the goals from pressing – something we worked on – and another one was good play, we released Dapo (Afolayan) and he scored a good goal.
"We defended well and stayed compact and resolute. Against Huddersfield, we played some nice football in the second half and got a deserved goal at the end.
"It is two different performances and it shows we can mix our game up. I think that is important this going into this season because we are going to come up against teams who will do different things to us, so I it is good to have."
Sadlier arrived at Wanderers in January from Rotherham United. He has managed to get a full pre-season under his belt over the summer.
He spoke of the importance of getting his first pre-season with the club and feels it is the first time in a while that he has felt settled at a club. He feels too that the new five substitutes rule which always Wanderers and other teams to make more changes will help contribute to success this season.
He said: "I think it is important that I settled in well in January and got used to everybody and the club. It is an amazing club and we are backed all the way, just to go and do our stuff on the pitch.
"To have my first full pre-season here was important. I feel good, I feel at home here and I feel settled for the first time in a while on and off the pitch. I am enjoying it. It is a very good squad and we have got strength in depth, and I think that is only a positive.
"I think it (five substitutes) is going to benefit a lot of teams. You see a lot of teams with big squads.
"Everyone is going to play a lot of minutes this year – there are over 50 games in all competitions. It is going to be a good season hopefully and we are all going to get lots of minutes and show what we can do. I think at the end of the season, hopefully if we get promoted, it is a big squad effort."
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