WANDERERS have every chance of continuing their impressive start to the season in the next two games, but only if everyone is pulling together.

That is the assessment of assistant manager Steve Parkin, ahead of back-to-back Championship games at home, with Birmingham visiting tonight and Sheffield United on Saturday.

Seven points from a possible nine, backed up by a good showing in the Carabao Cup defeat at Leeds, have Bolton riding high as the league table begins to take shape.

And Parkin feels competition for places on the pitch is a major factor in their successes so far.

Going forward, Yanic Wildschut is evidently itching for as much action as he can get but, although Sammy Ameobi has not featured since suffering an injury during the first-day win at West Bromwich Albion, Will Buckley and Craig Noone put forward strong cases to continue in the side.

“Yanic did well when Will dropped out,” said Parkin. “Nooney’s done really well too, Sammy was great in the first game, so they’ve complemented each other.

“Yanic is technically a real threat, he’s got blistering pace, the key for him is to trust us but also to really enjoy being here and being part of a squad. Wherever he’s been in the last 18 months or so he’s been in and out a lot and I’m sure he would like to nail down a regular place and he’ll have to work hard to do that and he has been, we’ve been delighted with him.

“They’re all good lads and they all want to play so that’s the key thing for us – they want a shirt and they want to keep it when they have one, so it’s good competition.”

Parkin was further cheered by the noise generated by the away following at Reading and, having rewarded those making their way to the Madejski, he would like to hear more of the same as the players look to put on a show on home turf in the next two matches.

“It would be nice to get a few more points on the board before the international break, obviously, but also we want to give the home fans a couple of good performances,” he added.

“They have generally been great, they were at the weekend, it’s a long way for them to travel. We know how expensive it is, and they were brilliant in that second half.

“In the last 10 minutes all we could hear was the Bolton fans so that was terrific.”