Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley League One Playoff: Four ways to back the draw from 9/4 to 8/1

• Bolton face Barnsley in first leg on Saturday

• Both drew 0-0 in the regular season at Bolton

• Alan Dudman picks out a 7/1 Bet Builder double

Evatt without his vice captain for Saturday

Bolton's impressive home defence of just 13 conceded all season ensured a play-off berth with a healthy 81 points and their fifth position pitches them against Barnsley - who finished a place above with 86.

Trotters boss Ian Evatt will have to do without Gethin Jones who is likely to miss all of the playoffs with a hamstring injury.

The versatile vice-captain will be missed, as he netted twice in the season and provided six assists.

"I don't sense any nerves. I sense a real steely determination to do well," said Evatt. "The players have trained great this week. They've been great all season, but I do feel like they have really come together since Wembley."

This is the first time Bolton have been involved in a play-off campaign since the 2000-01 season, when they won promotion to the Premier League under Sam Allardyce.

Overall, they have only won promotion from two of their seven total play-off campaigns, doing so in 2000-01 and 1994-95.

Bolton are 4.77/2 on the Exchange Promotion market, and 21/20 in the To Qualify market on the Sportsbook.

Duff has the play-off experience

Barnsley ended the season with a slightly patchy record; winning just once in the final five games. However, their manager Michael Duff (who exceeded my expectations this term) has a good pedigree in these playoff games.

He earned promotion as a player with Burnley in 2009, and also helped Cheltenham gain promotion honours via the same route - although he missed a penalty.

Captain Mads Andersen will be a last-minute decision in terms of his fitness, as the defender who made the League One team of the year has an abductor problem which forced him out of the final two games of the season.

Duff said: "He has got a chance. He still hasn't trained with the group yet, so it's going to be a late one."

Devante Cole is a slight doubt but is expected to make Saturday.

Barnsley have competed in four previous EFL play-off campaigns - they've not won promotion in the two they've competed in the second tier (1999-00, 2020-21) but have won promotion in the two in League One (2005-06, 2015-16).

The Tykes trade at 3.953/1 for Promotion and are the second favourites behind Sheffield Wednesday. Yorkshire dominance.

Match Odds

At 7/5 and 2/1 with the draw at 9/4, we have a similar market to the Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday match and as always with the first leg matches, a close one is expected with neither wanting to concede any ground in the first 90 minutes.

Barnsley were heavy scorers on the road with 35 goals and 10 wins, but it's a slight worry how their form tailed off towards the end of the campaign.

Did they already have the playoffs in mind? They did concede four at MK Dons, and they barely scored a goal in anger all season.

Bolton won 14 at the University ground this term and were the best home defence with Ipswich with just 13 conceded, and accrued an impressive xA of just 1.18.

The visitors have only won one of their last 16 meetings with Bolton across all competitions (D8 L7), with that lone victory coming in the FA Cup first round earlier this season.

Their last win against Bolton outside of cup competitions came in August 1997 in a Premier League match (2-1).

Tapping into the draw part, I think that's the way to play this at 9/4 on the Sportsbook.

They drew 0-0 at Bolton in October - a game which saw very few chances on goal, although Bolton won the return game at Oakwell 0-3.

However, it's misleading to take that result at face-value as Andersen was red-carded for Barnsley inside the first 10 minutes.

A trade on the 0-0 and 1-1 Correct Score market also looks a viable option. The former is certainly ripe for an in-and-out bet starting with 9.08/1 on the Exchange.

Under/Over 2.5 Goals

The 0-0 from earlier in the season between these two has certainly influenced the Under 2.5 Goals price, and the 6/10 on offer on the Sportsbook is a little shorter than ideal.

The Under 1.5 Goals is an option at 15/8, but if I was to consider that, I would rather play on a low-scoring Correct Score bet.

Bolton's excellent defence also has a big say in this market.

Bet Builder multiples with draw the number one pick

This will be the fourth meeting between Bolton and Barnsley in 2022-23, with the Trotters only losing one of the previous three (W1 D1).

Their last meeting came in January in a 3-0 away win for Bolton, with that being Barnsley's joint-heaviest home defeat of the season.

Dion Charles is Bolton's top scorer in league competition this season, netting 16 goals overall (11 more than any other Bolton player).

However, 10 of Charles' 16 strikes this term have been scored away from home (63%), with his home record being six goals in 21 appearances.

There's an argument with that Opta stat to take him on as a lay.

Barnsley's James Norwood has 11 in 46 with Cole 16 in 50. Norwood is the shorter of the two in terms of Anytime Scorer price at 6/4, and again, is a short enough price to go with a lay and sit and wait for 90 agonising minutes.

Backing the Draw and Under 1.5 Goals as a Bet Builder at nearly 7/1 is far more appealing than the goalscorer markets, as I think the second leg will be more open.