Brimming with belief

John Sheridan

ATHLETIC fully expect to turn over Bolton and take another major step towards safety, in the final chapter of their top-of-the-table trilogy.

After drawing with promoted Sheffield United, John Sheridan's men saw off third-placed Fleetwood with arguably the most accomplished display of the season at the weekend.

That victory - which means Athletic have lost once in 10 outings at home under Sheridan - boosted the club's points tally to 48 and the placing in Sky Bet League One to 17th.

Now, Phil Parkinson's Wanderers arrive at SportsDirect.com Park knowing that a victory could be enough to see them promoted by Saturday afternoon.

At the same time, Parkinson will be fully aware that of the current top six, only Bradford have walked away from a trip to Athletic with three points this season.

"Outsiders might think Sheffield United, Fleetwood, Bolton, they'll win at Oldham, but they need to realise that it's not as easy as that," said Sheridan.

"I don't look at the league table. I look at the form we've shown since I came back, and we're a top six side at this moment in my eyes - certainly the way we're playing.

"I've just got to get that into the players, and the more you do that and keep winning games, the more confidence those players get.

"It's massive for us at the moment. We are a hard team to play against right now."

Like Sheffield United before them, Bolton are likely to employ the same 3-5-2 formation that has worked so well for Sheridan so far against the Blades and Fleetwood.

Athletic's manager will have no qualms about going like-for-like against the Trotters given the team's rich form.

"Everyone knows what their job is and that's good," Sheridan added.

"We're playing that system at present and everyone knows what their position is and what they've got to do.

"Everything worked for us against Fleetwood and it was a great team performance.

"The confidence is there of course and you get that by winning games.

"I feel as though we're going out there at home with a good chance of winning the game.

"I try to preach that to the lads - I don't care who we're playing, I expect us to win.

"We're playing Bolton next, and I expect to win that.

"We look really strong, and other than the Bradford result when they did deserve to win, our home form has been excellent.

"Touch wood, that will be the reason why we stay up."