COLCHESTER United will visit the University of Bolton Stadium for the first time tomorrow.

But playing at Bolton Wanderers will not be a new experience for Hayden Mullins.

The newly-installed U's boss played at the venue on ten occasions for the likes of West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Birmingham City.

In some of those games, Mullins came up against a Sam Allardyce's successful Premier League side which boasted the likes of Kevin Nolan, Gary Speed and Kevin Davies, up front.

The 42-year-old remembers only too well how tough a trip to play the Trotters was, during his playing days.

“They were a hard team to play against," said Mullins, who has been appointed Colchester's head coach until the end of the season.

“They went from back to front quite quick, picked up a lot of second balls and were a threat on set plays.

“I think this Bolton team are more expansive.

“They want to play a lot more football and the wing-backs join in.

“They make the pitch as big as they can and want to play through the middle.

“It’ll be a different experience to the one I had as a player."

Bolton now find themselves in the fourth tier of English football, after suffering financial issues and going into administration in May, 2019.

But the Trotters are hoping to win promotion for the first time of asking this season and currently lie in fourth spot, having embarked on 13-match unbeaten run under boss Ian Evatt.

“Bolton are a good side," said Mullins.

“They have a big budget and recruited quite a lot of good players.

“We know the challenge but one thing we look at on the positive side is that we beat them earlier in the season.

“We know that we have players that can hurt them and we’ve done that already.

“We’ll go there with a plan and a set up with the way we want to try and play but we respect them.

“They’re a good side and the opposite of us, they’ve put on a very good run.

“They’ve jumped from mid-table and they look like the team with a lot of ascendency to go on and maybe get promoted automatically from this division.

“They’re a tough side but one thing I’ve learnt this season from being in this division and working in it is that any team can beat anyone on the day.

“We’ll be going there and set up and confident in what we want to do with high energy and take our threats to them."