Bolton Wanderers Football Club News

• Nickname:Wanderers
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Owen Coyle

• Ground:Reebok Stadium
• Capacity:28,000

Nolan faces race against time

06 Mar 2008 - 07:48:01

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Bolton Wanderers captain Kevin Nolan is battling to beat a back problem in the build-up to Thursday's UEFA Cup last 16 clash with Sporting Lisbon.

The midfielder missed the second half of Sunday's 3-1 loss to Liverpool but, following extensive treatment on the injury, looks set to at least make the substitute's bench against the Portuguese side.

The Trotters are already without Gretar Steinsson, Tamir Cohen and Grzegorz Rasiak, none of whom are registered with Bolton for the UEFA Cup.

Manager Gary Megson insists he is not about to take the competition lightly, even if they are one of the least fancied sides left in the historic tournament.

"You look at what we did in Madrid, Munich and Belgrade," he said earlier this week. "If we have a goal to hang on to, we are very difficult to play against."

That precious goal has become ever harder to grab, with Bolton scoring only seven goals in the 11 games they have played in 2008.

After the departure of Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea in January, it is Nolan who tops Bolton's scoring charts with five goals, but it is a problem that Megson believes the team will overcome.

"We've never been a free-scoring team but we need to take our opportunities when they come along," he added.

"I'm sure we'll get goals but we have to improve our ratio and there isn't a massive amount of time to do that."