Southampton set for rare Bolton reunion after Bolton's League One play-off win | OneFootball

Southampton will renew league hostilities with Bolton Wanderers next season, a first in 21 years, after the Trotters' return to the Championship. Sainstmarching.com notes that Saints enter the campaign with a four-point deduction and the lingering fallout from Spygate.

Bolton are back in the second tier for the first time since 2015-16. The sides have not shared a division since 2004-05, when their last league meeting, on 19 April 2005, ended 1-1 as Kevin Phillips earned Southampton a point alongside strike partner Peter Crouch.

They also met in the 2010 League Cup, when a Southampton side featuring Jose Fonte and Rickie Lambert lost 1-0 at St Mary's.

Southampton's last win over Bolton was in 2001, as Marian Pahars came off the bench to snatch a 1-0 victory at the then Reebok Stadium, now the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Since that success, the Saints are winless in 10 meetings in all competitions, a run that included three 0-0 draws as well as league and cup defeats.

Bolton approach the reunion after a 4-1 Wembley win over Stockport County clinched promotion. With Lincoln City leaping into the division as convincing champions, next season's Championship could be enthralling and unpredictable.

Saints fans will simply hope their side can swim rather than sink as they try to move on from Spygate.

Source: Sainstmarching.com