Hill: Bolton are a big club too – we won’t be intimidated by Black Cats

Keith Hill insisted his Bolton Wanderers side would not be intimidated by Sunderland having hinted the Black Cats may not be the biggest side in League One.

Bolton are yet to rack up a win this season after a turbulent summer, which saw them forced to play a team full of youth scholars during the early weeks of the campaign.

And with performances having improved since the arrival of Hill, the Wanderers’ chief insists his side won’t be intimidated by Sunderland.

“I have never been intimidated – I certainly can’t remember being,” he said.

“Sunderland are a good outfit and I have a lot of respect for Jack [Ross, manager] but my players will reflect the fact we are sending them out there to reflect the needs of the supporters.

“We have to represent our values against Sunderland. We will try and build more blocks after the Oxford result over the next few days going into Saturday.”

The visit of Jack Ross’ side will arguably be one of the biggest tests Bolton will face this term - with 4,000 Sunderland fans set to make the journey to the North West.

But despite that stunning support, Hill wouldn’t be drawn on whether the Black Cats were the biggest side in the league.

“There are big clubs in this league – and we are one of them – but there’s no getting around the fact Sunderland are up there. I couldn’t say who is the biggest club in League One.”

*Sunderland’s under-18 side will be without six key players when they face Newcastle United this weekend.

The young Black Cats will be looking to bounce back from a 10-0 defeat to Everton last weekend when they face their bitter rivals at the Academy of Light this morning – but coach Paul Bryson has problems to solve.

Tom Smith, Harry Ord, Ryan Gooch, Patrick Almond and Liam Miller are all injured while Jack Newman is on international duty.

Bryson, though, is still hopeful of seeing a response from his squad.

“We’re at home and it’s a great opportunity for us to pick up points,” he said, speaking to safc.com. “I am looking for a massive, massive response from the players and I can’t stress that enough.”