After success in round two of the Carabao Cup, City return to Sky Bet Championship action as they travel to the Toughsheet Community Stadium to face Bolton Wanderers on Saturday 29 August (3pm KO).
Read the pre-match thoughts of Imps’ head coach, Chris Cohen and City forward, Reeco Hackett, alongside all the stats and information.
Opposition Information
The Wanderers finished fifth in Sky Bet League One last season, 28 points behind the Imps however, their 2025/26 campaign didn’t end there as it culminated at Wembley with a 4-1 success over Stockport County which saw them earn their spot alongside City amongst the 24 teams competing in the Championship this year. Steven Schumacher’s side have made a positive start to life back in the second tier having earnt four points from their opening two games with a 2-1 win when hosting Preston North End on the opening weekend and holding QPR to a 0-0 draw when making the trip to Loftus Road.
A man who has been ever-present so far in the Trotters’ frontline this campaign is Sam Dalby, the 26-year-old striker is heading into his second full season with Bolton Wanderers and got his Sky Bet Championship tally up and running after 14 minutes of the opening game when Preston North End made the short journey to the Toughsheet Community Stadium. He was a key figure for his side last season when scoring 14 goals and assisting a further eight in all competitions but arguably his most important contribution in white came at the home of English football when he acrobatically scored his side’s third goal in the aforementioned play-off final success over Stockport County.
Schumacher’s latest recruit, Jayden Nelson, has recently made the transatlantic journey to Lancashire from his former side, Austin FC who currently sit in 14th place of the MLS Western Conference. The Canadian international was selected amongst Jesse Marsch’s 26-man squad for the 2026 Fifa World Cup but only managed three minutes of game time in the competition. With the MLS season in full swing, Nelson has made 15 appearances for Austin FC this year but the left-sided attackers most rewarding season came in 2025 for the Vancouver Whitecaps, a campaign which saw him provide 10 assists and score a further three goals.
Chris Cohen said: “Steven [Schumacher] always sets up his teams very well and we know the game we’re going to face, we know the challenge but like I’ve said before we go into every game with a plan that will see us come away with three points.”
Speedy recovery, Tendayi.
Tendayi Darikwa played a huge part in City winning the Sky Bet League One title both on and off the pitch in his first season as Imps captain. He made a similarly positive start to the 2026/27 season with an assist at Middlesbrough but in the second half of the clash with Portsmouth at the ProAmpac Stadium he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the remainder of the season. Both Chris Cohen and Reeco Hackett spoke about the magnitude of the loss and their support for their skipper.
Cohen said: “The whole football club, the players, the staff, myself and Tom are all devastated to hear the news. He’s going to be a huge loss but he’ll still going to be important for the team, being around the place and he’s still going to be the captain of the team.”
Hackett said: “I’m absolutely gutted, he’s such a massive part of the team and the club so to obviously not have him out there on the pitch. Me and him have built up quite a good relationship as we’ve been playing together on the same side for the last couple of seasons, but he’ll still be around the group and still leading us off the pitch, it’s just a massive shame.”
Reeco Hackett’s thoughts
Reeco Hackett earnt the accolade of joint top goalscorer during last season’s historic Sky Bet League One title-winning campaign scoring 11 league goals and assisting seven more. He opened his account for 2026/27 when converting a spot-kick in the Imps’ 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth at the ProAmpac Stadium and he spoke ahead of City’s journey to face old rivals in Bolton Wanderers and his role as one of the more senior players to help the newer lads settle into the group.
Hackett said: “I’d always help the new lads coming in, I know what it's like to be a new player we’ve got an amazing group to come into and we want to make them feel as settled as possible so we can see the best of them out on the pitch because ultimately we’re going to need all of them so anything we can do as senior players is a positive.”
He added: “We had a few good games against them last year so it’ll be nice to go and hopefully get a result, they’re obviously a team we played and competed against for a large part of last season so we know what they’re about and we can take that into the game.”
H2H
Over the past six years, trips to the Toughsheet Community Stadium have been a frequent occurrence for City as the teams have become familiar foes. For a large portion of last season, the Imps were battling alongside the Trotters at the top end of the table with both fixtures ending as 1-1 draws but the trip to face them last August saw a unique turn of events. Rob Street gave the Imps the lead within 20 seconds, and they maintained that lead all the way until the seventh minute of additional time where Tom Hamer unluckily found the back of his own goal to ensure the points were shared.
Despite the familiarity of these two sides, most of the Imps’ success against the Wanderers has come when welcoming them to Lincolnshire with wins proving hard to come by when travelling to Lancashire. You need to go back to Valentine’s Day 1984 to find the last time City emerged victorious on their travels to Bolton, that day it was a 2-0 success in the third tier of English football with the goals being scored by Gordon Hobson and John Thomas.
Match Information
City will wear their 2026/27 home kit as they make their second trip to Lincolnshire within a week - get yours HERE.
Benjamin Speedie will be the man in the middle and will have help from his assistants, Paul Hodskinson and Samuel Clayton and Andrew Kitchen will serve as the fourth official for the afternoon.
Legendary broadcaster, John Helm, will be joined by Chris Laming to provide commentary for Imps+ - check out your streaming options HERE.
