SHOOTING boots at the ready – Wanderers are going to have to sharpen up in front of goal if they are going to take bragging rights in tomorrow night’s Lancashire derby.

Though Stephen Dobbie ended a long wait for a competitive strike against Nottingham Forest at the weekend, Neil Lennon admits his side are still way off their best in an attacking sense.

Gary Madine and Zach Clough have found themselves under scrutiny in the last few weeks but the lack of goals from around the team has also been a concern to the Whites boss.

“We’ve been creating chances but it has to get better in front of goal, no doubt about that,” he said. “We’ve got players who are capable, just for one reason or another it hasn’t been going for them.

“I’m confident the goals will come. The goal (against Forest) lifts a bit of pressure off things, gets that monkey off our back, but I don’t think we’ve been far away at all.”

The numbers suggest it hasn’t been for the lack of trying that Wanderers have failed to chalk up enough goals in their opening four encounters.

Wanderers currently average 14.8 shots per game – a total bettered only by QPR, Brentford, Derby, Forest and Reading.

Yet only Milton Keynes Dons (2.3) average fewer shots on target than Wanderers (2.8) in the division, with QPR leading the way in the Championship with 6.3, most notably through in-form front man Charlie Austin.

Madine would seem to have suffered more than most. Only two players in the whole division have averaged more shots in a game than the former Sheffield Wednesday striker – Preston’s Joe Garner and Leeds United’s Chris Wood.

A missed penalty against Forest and two headers on the opening day against Derby County that ricocheted off the woodwork summed up the 25-year-old’s luck so far.

Clough isn’t far behind, averaging 3.3 shots per game, after which Emile Heskey comes next with 1.3, despite having started just one game for Wanderers so far in the league.

It will come as little surprise to Whites fans that the fleet-footed youngster is one of the division’s most active dribblers this season, his average of 2.3 runs per game bettered only by Rotherham United’s Joe Newell and Forest’s Michail Antonio.

The academy graduate is also Wanderers’ most fouled player.

Supplying the ammunition, Mark Davies has been the most effective Bolton player to date – credited with the assist for Dobbie’s equaliser at the weekend, he is also the most economical player in possession. His passing percentage of 89.9 per cent ranks him fourth in the division among players who have made three starts or more.

Liam Feeney is also among the division’s most prolific crossers of the ball, averaging 3.3 per game – a total usurped only by Newell of Rotherham, Blackburn Rovers’ Craig Conway and Preston North End’s Paul Gallagher.

And concluding the statistical round-up, goalkeeper Ben Amos has actually supplied more long balls than any other player in the second tier – lumping an average 11.8 clearances high up the pitch in his four starts so far.