A cacophony of boos echoed around the University of Bolton Stadium as Wanderers’ players prepared for their play-off semi-final against Barnsley.

With remedial work being carried out on the training ground, Ian Evatt’s squad have trained on the main pitch this week and on Thursday the Bolton boss took the opportunity to test his players with the Tanoy.

Much like Mikel Arteta famously did by playing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to his Arsenal team during drills before a game at Liverpool, Evatt decided to take his team out of their comfort zone during a practice session.

“Yeah, we had Lewis Duckmanton stood up there shouting abuse at the players in a Yorkshire accent so they can get used to it,” the manager laughed.

“There are things we’re looking at as part of our training schedule and gameplan and that’s one of them – I don’t need to go into too much detail but that is one of them. It is maybe something we can gain a one per cent advantage with it.”

It was a new experience for club captain Ricardo Santos too – but one he hopes will come in handy for the return leg at Oakwell next Friday.

“I think we did it one time in League Two but training like that is something different and prepares you a bit for whatever might happen in the play-offs,” he said.

“It was a good experience – but I reckon it will be a bit better on Saturday.”

Wanderers have already experienced the big occasion this season in their Papa Johns Trophy run and many of the players involved have drawn confidence from their involvement, says Evatt.

“We have taken on a bit of a mantra recently that it is a bit of a rollercoaster but if we’re going to do it, we’ll sit at the front,” he said. “And that is what we have to do on Saturday.

“You have to enjoy the experience, enjoy the pressure, and concentrate on performing well because it will give us a great chance of winning.

“We played well at Wembley and hopefully we can do that again on Saturday.”

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