The Gills travel to the North West hoping to cause an upset and will be encouraged by their performances against both Chelsea and Leeds United in last season's cup competitions in which they where narrowly beaten by the Premiership sides and will take comfort from their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Bolton overcame Walsall in the previous round of the competition with a 3-1 victory whilst Andy Hessenthaler's team defeated Division 1 rivals Stoke City 2-0 in the last round.
Trotters manager Sam Allardyce is expected to promote trio Mario Jardel, Ibrahim Ba and Anthony Barness to the starting line up whilst veteran goalkeeper Kevin Poole could take over from Jussi Jaaskelainen in goal. Youngsters Nicky Hunt, Jeff Smith, Jonathan Walters and Charlie Comyn-Platt could also come into contention. Youri Djorkaeff is still injured with a calf problem and Glen Little is cup tied having played for Burnley in the First Round.
Gillingham are expected to welcome back striker Marlon King who has been suffering from a hamstring injury in recent weeks but the former Barnet man is expected to be named amongst the substitutes. Midfielder Paul Smith faces a late fitness test on a back injury whilst fellow midfielder Mark Saunders will be missing for family reasons. Former Bolton Wanderers duo Rod Wallace and Nicky Southall look set to be involved against their former club.
In the 1999-2000 season both the Wanderers and the Gills met in the Worthington Cup with the Trotters winning both legs, 4-1 at the Preistfield Stadium and 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium, the latter proved to be Colin Todd's last game in charge as Bolton manager as he resigned a day later following the club's decision to sell midfielder Per Frandsen to local rivals Blackburn Rovers.
Anything can happen in the cup competitions as our local rivals Bury proved in last seasons competition, so the Gills cannot be taken lightly but a victory would certainly be a welcome boost for Sam Allardyce who is hoping his team can bounce back from Saturday's defeat by Birmingham City.
PLAYED FOR BOTH
STEVE BANKS
KEITH BRANAGAN
ANDY KENNEDY
JIM MCDONAGH
NICKY SOUTHALL
ROD WALLACE
MARK WALTON