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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
John McDougall

Question marks surrounding Bolton Wanderers clashes vs Wigan Athletic and Portsmouth explained

Bolton Wanderers have five matches in March which represents a quieter run of fixtures compared to February.

Wanderers were in action eight times in the shortest month of the year with an intense Saturday-Tuesday fixture list which has seen them rise up the League One table.

The month just ended saw Wanderers pick up five wins, a draw and just two losses as they currently sit 10th in the table and seven points from the play-offs as things stand.

READ MORE: 'Everything' - Gillingham send Bolton warning as Neil Harris comments on Wanderers January spend

Ian Evatt's side have 11 matches left to go in their season and will be aiming to bounce back from the weekend loss on the road to MK Dons when they take on Gillingham this Saturday for their first game in March.

From there, Wanderers have back-to-back home games against Morecambe and Plymouth Argyle, before making a short trip to Cheshire to play Crewe Alexandra.

They are due to end the month at home on Saturday, March 26, against Portsmouth where Wanderers will be seeking to avenge the 1-0 loss at Fratton Park at the end of October.

That game will take place during the international break, where the Premier League and Championship take a break while League One and League Two carry on.

Games in the third and fourth tiers do get postponed, however, due to players being called up by their countries, with at least three call-ups for one side leading to it being eligible for applying for a game to be played at another time.

And thanks to the business conducted in January, that could be the case for Wanderers.

Dion Charles could get called up by Northern Ireland for upcoming friendlies versus Luxembourg and Hungary.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson could represent Iceland for fixtures against Finland and Spain, while Manchester City loanee James Trafford could be called up once again for England-under 20s.

Trafford was part of the last England squad in November and Andy Edwards' side have matches against Poland and Germany coming up.

Should all three of the above, or any other first-team players for that matter be called up by their respective national teams, then it would not be surprising to see Wanderers wish to postpone the clash vs Pompey for another date.

Another game soon after that which could also have to be rearranged and potentially be a midweek match as a result is the clash on Saturday, April 2, at the DW Stadium against Wigan Athletic.

The reason for this is that the Latics are in Papa John's Trophy semi-final action on Tuesday, March 8, against Sutton United and, if they overcome the League Two newcomers, then they would be in the final at Wembley on Sunday, April 3.

That would mean the game against Wanderers would have to be rearranged.

The other semi-final sees Hartlepool United, who dumped Wanderers out of the competition, take on Rotherham United for the second final spot up for grabs.

Should the Pompey game not go ahead on March 26, however, there is scope for it to take place on April 2, should circumstances allow.

That is because that weekend, by chance, Pompey are poised to take on Rotherham at Fratton Park, and means that if the Latics and Millers are clashing at Wembley that weekend, Danny Cowley's side would be available to make the trip to the University of Bolton Stadium a week later than originally planned.

The situation will start to become a lot clearer by the evening of March 8 when the Papa John's Trophy final line-up is finally confirmed.

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