Gary McSheffrey believes Bolton Wanderers are one of the best footballing teams in League One when fit and firing ahead of the meeting with his Doncaster Rovers side.
Wanderers make the journey to the Keepmoat Stadium for a 3pm kick-off on Friday and are aiming to finish as high up the top half of the League One table as possible.
For the hosts, however, all focus is remaining in the third tier of English football and sit five points from safety heading into the upcoming fixtures.
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Doncaster gave themselves a glimmer of hope thanks to a 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra last weekend, a result which relegated the Railwaymen to League Two.
Next up for Donny is the visit of Wanderer s tomorrow afternoon before taking on Shrewsbury Town on Easter Monday and McSheffrey has challenged his side to pick up three points against Wanderers and go back-to-back.
And McSheffrey, who grew up in the youth team ranks with Wanderers boss Ian Evatt at Coventry City, feels his old team mate's side is up there with any in the third tier of English football when they lock horns tomorrow afternoon with all his players at his disposal.
He told the club's website: “I think that at full strength they’re one of the best footballing teams in the division.
“They pass it around really well, play some attractive, risky football.
“Evo [Ian Evatt] has had a couple of years there, implementing what he wants to do and he’s got some really good players.
“He’s got some energy up the pitch, some quality up the pitch that can score goals.
“He’s had a couple of injuries that have probably shaken his team up a bit, real fixtures in the team that really get them ticking and lead them. That’s a big loss for them.
“How he lines up, we’ll see. He’s changed the shape a couple of times but they’re good players and they can all deal with the football and we have to respect that.
“What I do know is, having grown up with Evo in Coventry as a kid, he’ll want to come here and do a job on me. Bolton won’t be on the beach, that’s for sure.”
