Wanderers trio face anxious six-game wait for EFL's yellow card amnesty

WANDERERS have three players who are just one yellow card away from a one-game suspension.

Szabi Schön, Ricardo Santos and Jay Matete have all had four bookings in league football this season and will serve a match ban if they pick up a fifth before the 19th game of the campaign, which is currently scheduled to be the visit of Wigan Athletic on December 19.

George Johnston and George Thomason have also picked up three yellow cards apiece since the opening day of the season.

Bookings collected in the cup competitions do not count towards the league total, which is why Schön – booked in the second half of the 2-1 defeat at Walsall on Saturday – is free to face Stockport County.

Wanderers have not had a single player sent off this season but have now accumulated 36 yellow cards, which is more than any other League One side with the exception of Stevenage (38) and Crawley Town (37).

The number of cards does not necessarily tally up with the number of fouls committed, however, with Ian Evatt’s side placed 14th out of 24 clubs on that front.

Bolton currently average 12.1 fouls per game, down on leaders Wigan (14.3), Charlton (13.9) Exeter City and Lincoln City (both 13.8).

Last season the Whites amassed 108 bookings and six red cards over 46 games, which left them with the third-highest number of disciplinary points behind Wigan Athletic and Portsmouth. They also made the 11th number of fouls in the league, with 518.

George Thomason collected 22 yellow and one red card last season, which set a new club record, eclipsing the 16 yellow cards received by El-Hadji Diouf in the 2007/8 campaign.

According to data from Transfermrkt.com, of the 666 cards of both colours shown in League One this season, 42 have been given to goalkeepers, 162 to forwards, 188 to midfielders and 187 to defenders.

Defenders account for seven of the 10 red cards issued this season, however, with no goalkeeper yet sent off in the division.