Nigel Clough reckons Burton Albion can't underestimate Bolton Wanderers ahead of their big showdown at the Macron Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

The Trotters have lost just twice in their last ten games after a dreadful start saw them rooted to the bottom of the Championship table, with their first win of the campaign not arriving until the middle of October.

However, since that 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday they haven't looked back and collected 14 points out of a possible 30 in that run - lifting them off the foot of the table and into 21st place.

They're not out of the woods yet, though, and are only out of the drop-zone by virtue of their goal difference being better than Birmingham City's and just two points separate them with Burton, who occupy last place.

Ben Alnwick of Bolton celebrates their victory over Wednesday
Ben Alnwick of Bolton celebrates their victory over Wednesday

But Clough reckons their poor start has masked the potential of their squad - a group of players packed with Championship experience through the likes of Darren Pratley, Gary Madine and Adam Le Fondre.

"Bolton aren't as bad as their start suggests," Clough said.

"You look at the squad on paper, like an awful lot of teams, and they've got a very good experienced Championship squad.

"They've just taken a little bit of time adjusting to life in the Championship.

Sammy Ameobi celebrates with his Bolton teammates after scoring at Sunderland

"They got off to a bad start and I think they've lost just two games in ten now, so that's not too bad a team.

"We've won one in nine."

For Clough, Bolton are an example that, just because a team has gone on a poor run of form, all is not lost.

And he's keen to ensure that Burton take the lead off Saturday's hosts and arrest their form before it’s too late.

Lucas Akins slams home Burton Albion's late consolation against Preston

"We're capable of dragging ourselves out of it if we do produce the sort of form that Bolton have produce", he added.

"The good thing, I think, from Bolton's point of view is that it came very early in the season and they've still got 35 games or something to recover from it.

"The later you go into the season, the less time you've got to recover.

It wasn't too long ago that Bolton were regularly finishing in the top half of the Premier League, with the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka lighting up the Reebok Stadium, as it was then known.

In fact, just ten years ago Bolton beat Atletico Madrid in the Europa League with a solitary El-Hadji Diouf goal defeating Los Rojiblancos, who have since appeared in two Champions League finals.

In the 2007-08 season, Burton finished fifth in the Conference National before going on to clinch promotion to the Football League for the first time the following campaign.

"That's incredible, and they are still that size club," Clough said of Bolton's recent history with European competition.

"The fact they went down into League One or whatever, they are still a very, very big club.

Jay Jay Okocha during his time at Bolton Wanderers
Jay Jay Okocha during his time at Bolton Wanderers

"We'll look at the facilities and the beautiful stadium they've got on Saturday.

"It'll emphasise the difference, even with teams like Bolton, the difference there is."