Steven Schumacher wants his Wanderers to embrace the extra stakes against Blackpool and insists they must “battle for everything” in front of a sold-out away end.
The Whites are aiming to return to winning ways in League One after three successive draws, and the geography brings added spice.
“I think you have got to use it, you have got to prepare the players for what is coming,” Schumacher told The Bolton News. “You can't hide away from the fact that it is a derby game.
“The atmosphere will be heightened, there will be a huge crowd from us going over there and wanting to see the team perform and battle for everything, first and foremost.
“Then what we have stressed this morning is that we have to make sure that we still try and play our football as well.
“I felt for the Barnsley game, we almost got involved in the fight for too long and the first half in particular became a bit too scrappy, which suited them.
“So we want to make sure that we are competitive and do all the basic things right in a derby game, but also don't take our eye off the ball that we need to play because that is going to suit us to try and get a result.”
Bolton haven’t won at Bloomfield Road since 1977 and it is a record that Schumacher and his squad are hungry to put right.
The head coach got a taste of the fixture at the back end of last season, but Wanderers found themselves on the wrong end of a tight contest on the coast.
“Unfortunately, we didn't manage to turn that round and end that record,” he recalled. “It has proven to be a difficult place for this club to go.
“It will be the same at the weekend, you know Blackpool will be up for it. It was a good game here last year, I thought we played really well on the day.
“We did enough in that game, I think, to get something from it but didn’t. But we go into this one with confidence.
“They have had a tough start to the season, they haven't been at their best. But in a derby game, the form tends to go out the window and whoever is up for it most on the day will win.”
Schumacher has a selection headache in midfield after Aaron Morley and Josh Sheehan’s displays off the bench against Lincoln City last weekend.
“That is what you need because Ethan [Erhahon] and Xavier [Simons] were outstanding against Reading, the two of them ran the game, completely dominated,” said the boss.
“Then I just felt at half-time [against Lincoln] we needed to change because we wanted to change shape, change our system, and the two players that suited that system were Aaron and Josh.
“They were excellent. They came off the bench and had a real good impact on the team, and played a big part in us getting a result out of a game.
“Whoever gets selected in any game has to do their best, and then the ones who are on the bench have got to come on and try to make an impact.”
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