THE town of Bolton is getting right behind Wanderers’ last-gasp bid for safety.

Despite some reservations about ticket prices for Sunday’s must-win match with Nottingham Forest, a healthy crowd approaching 20,000 is currently expected at the Macron.

Fans are expected to flood in from all over the UK, and in some cases abroad, to see a game billed as the most important since Bolton beat Middlesbrough on the final day of the 2002/3 Premier League campaign to stay up.

In this instance, Phil Parkinson’s side require victory and other results to go their way to secure their place in the Championship.

The need for three points will almost certainly affect the manager’s selection policy on Sunday - one which has come under considerable scrutiny since the Burton defeat which plunged them into serious trouble last weekend.

Parkinson explained his decision to play two holding midfielders behind Darren Pratley had been made to try and stabilise his side away from home.

“When we played Reading and Sheffield Wednesday away I thought that was as good a shape as we’d had in the team away from home,” he told The Bolton News.

“I went with that bearing in mind the two injuries we’d had with Filipe Morais and Antonee Robinson, who had missed training.

“There are always people who will say I should have picked X, Y and Z but I don’t think the performance was down to that.

“Against Forest we have to pick the team I think is ready to fight and get the three points we need to try and stay alive.”

Forest have sold out their allocation of just over 2,000 and laid on 10 free coaches for supporters heading to the North West.

An application for more tickets was turned down, however, with Wanderers weighing up the increased costs of policing and stewarding the lower tier against the likely take-up of seats.