THE last time Wanderers met Port Vale, fans were ready to get the party started.

It turned out spilling onto the pitch at Vale Park after David Wheater put Bolton ahead in April 2017 was a little premature from the 4,400 travelling fans.

But despite despite Fleetwood’s late winner at Gillingham that day putting celebrations on hold, Phil Parkinson’s side only had to wait another week to secure an immediate return to the Championship on home soil against Peterborough.

The referee for the meeting back in 2017, Carl Boyeson, took the players off the pitch as order was restored in the stands following Wheater’s towering header.

By coincidence the man in the middle again tomorrow, he will have no such problems as games at the University of Bolton Stadium sadly continue to be played behind closed doors.

And rather than a game that could be a promotion decider in League One, this is a contest between two teams looking to be in the shake-up in League Two.

Wanderers and Vale’s seasons so far have been almost opposites. As the Whites stumbled out of the blocks, John Askey’s men made their way up to fifth in the table.

But just as Ian Evatt’s side found their feet and won five on the spin, Vale have lost their last five meaning they are three points and four places below Wanderers in 14th in the League Two table heading in to tomorrow’s encounter.

Askey however is confident they will soon be heading back in the right direction.

“Training is nice and sharp and it is quite positive about the place,” he told the Stoke Sentinel.

“I think had we been playing really poorly and getting hammered every week then it is a different story, but it has been frustrating for everybody that we haven’t picked up results.

“You can only talk about luck so many times.

“Obviously there are things we’re not doing right, otherwise we would be winning games. So, you look at where we can improve.

“But in some cases, we have been playing better than when we had won games. It can be a fine line but it isn’t just bad luck.”

Askey is set to be without winger David Amoo, who picked up a hamstring problem in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Leyton Orient.

Amoo could be replaced by Cristian Montano who impressed as his replacement off the bench against Orient.

The visitors are set to include Bolton-born Wanderers fan Luke Joyce in their side with the midfielder in line to face his hometown club for the first time in a career that has also seen him play for Accrington and Carlisle.