BWFC 1-0 Bristol City

We don't have great deal of quality compared to some others, but if we compete like that most weeks we will be Ok, Parky gets a lot of stick but they want to play for him. Great result.

Really good battling performance. Everyone played their part but Sammy was fantastic.

Referee was atrocious.

Zach made a huge difference - at last we had a forward who could take the ball and run with it, moving quickly. Superb

Highlights here -

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Only just finished watching it as i had to record it.  (I was watching Salford get battered by Wigan!)

Dervite was shaky at the start but by the end he was a completely different player.

Alnwick made a few shaky decisions.

Derik wasnt great imo and Vela for all his running and effort gave the ball away too much along with robinson.

Apart from that i think it was a great game.  Clough should of buried his chance in the top right.  He will get the next one!

And Ameobi was immense.  At the heart of everything and it showed by the end of the game.  He looked about to drop!

Report: Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Bristol City

Wanderers picked up a priceless victory over promotion-chasing Bristol City in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Friday evening.

The deadlock was broken with 19 minutes of the clash remaining as Sammy Ameobi picked up the ball in his own half and powered downfield before beating Luke Steele to send the Bolton faithful into raptures.

And come full time, his effort was enough to ensure that the three points remained with the Whites.

TEAM NEWS

There was a Bolton debut for Tyler Walker following his deadline day move to the club, while Mark Beevers was back in the mix after missing the Ipswich Town clash on January 20 through illness.

FIRST HALF

Following a period of pressure from the visitors that came to nothing much inside the opening stages, Wanderers sprung into life with former Bristol City man Mark Little causing trouble down the right flank, with his trickery into the box and consequent cross being cleared at the death.

Goalmouth chances were few and far between inside the first ten minutes, but Sammy Ameobi did come close shortly after as he twisted and turned and shrugged off the challenge of two City shirts before unleashing a drive which flew inches wide of Luke Steele’s far post.

It was an opportunity which had the Whites faithful out of their seats and hungry for more.

The Robins weren’t for sitting back though, and it was certainly a full-blooded affair with tackles flying in left, right and centre.

As the game reached its quarter-mark however, neither goalkeeper had been really tested, although Wanderers were the ones making the loudest noises in terms of attacking moves.

A goalmouth scramble ensued on the 26th minute mark too, with Steele fumbling the ball on the edge of the six yard box while Henry saw his eventual strike deflect off a white shirt and out of play.

The visitors then responded in kind though, as Bobby Reid’s cross narrowly eluded the advancing Famara Diedhiou who was well placed in the six yard box.

They also enjoyed a period of pressure in and around Bolton’s 18-yard box with eight minutes of the first half remaining, with a succession of blocked shots culminating in Reid putting his own effort a foot wide of the upright.

As the clock ran down to half-time, it was Bolton looking the more likely with the majority of play happening in City’s half, but come the break, the scores were goalless.

SECOND HALF

With no changes for either side at the break, proceedings got back underway under the floodlights.

And Wanderers almost broke the deadlock inside two minutes, with Josh Vela’s cross finding Mark Beevers who saw his effort blocked.

Coming so close buoyed the Whites, but City almost snatched the lead against the run of play through Diedhiou, only for Alnwick to somehow keep out his effort before David Wheater put in a superb sliding tackle on Korey Smith to clear Bolton’s lines.

The 57th minute of the clash however saw Zach Clough, fresh from his deadline day loan move back to Wanderers, enter the field in place of Walker, with the forward receiving a standing ovation from three sides of Macron Stadium on his return.

And he tried his luck just five minutes after coming into the fray with a free-kick from distance, but Steele was equal to his effort which unfortunately lacked bite.

He was certainly proving a handful for the City backline however, with a mazy run by him from just inside the visitors’ half soon after eventually being ended just outside of the penalty area.

Wanderers were knocking, and they were eventually rewarded with 19 minutes remaining as Ameobi picked up the ball in his own half of the pitch, shrugged off the challenge of his marker, powered downfield and unleashed an effort into the bottom corner of the Bristol net to the sheer delight of the Bolton faithful.

Stunned, the Robins set about trying to force a way back into the clash but were coming up against a stubborn Bolton backline.

Zach Clough meanwhile had a glorious opportunity to put the result to bed with five minutes left after finding himself unmarked just inside the box, but his effort sailed over the crossbar to the disbelief of the Wanderers fans.

The clock was ticking down to full time, and the home supporters could almost taste victory.

With four minutes of additional time indicated, it was all hands to the pump for Bolton to see the game out.

And come full time, their efforts were enough to secure three priceless points.

FULL TIME

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Great result, pretty good performance.

The defence were immense, especially Dervite and Wheater. Full backs caused a lot of problems for Bristol City.

Henry and Derik did their jobs very well.

I thought we improved dramatically when Clough came on, for a start Vela stopped flicking it on to Madine which is all he's done for the last few months.

If we keep winning our home games we'll be fine.

It showed that all the critics of Parky that all he knew was hoofball were wrong. I thought we played an intelligent game last night and suggested that this team can deliver the goods in different ways. Walker played well but went off the boil a little before he was subbed. I'm now getting optimistic that we can survive by playing some decent football.

There will be times when we do need a big target man, especially as an impact sub, but lovely to see that Parky could, after all, change the approach successfully. What he has done is prove that the squad WANT to play for him, a huge plus point.

Excellent result. We came out a little nervous, but as we saw BC weren't firing on all four, came into the game more, gaining confidence all the time. No complaints, although Vela seemed to be in and out of the game at times. The new boy was brilliant, especially when the rest of the team followed him up the park. Good to see Zac getting involved, and credit to him, playing some good football. Its been a long time since I've seen such good wing play, (both wings), and the tactics were spot on. Well done the boys.

Great result. I'd have taken a draw before kick off, so a win was a huge bonus. Clough missing a great chance to finish it meant my finger nails paid another hefty price, but,apart from a couple of hairy moments from Alnwick,it was a decent, battling performance.

I can't seem to find Martin's review of the game and Parkinson's tactics?












(only joking mate   ).

Agree with comments about improving once Clough was on, think he had more presence than Walker whose pace will probably be better suited to coming off the bench. Still think we need a striker but encouraging from the forward players last night.

Sluffy wrote:I can't seem to find Martin's review of the game and Parkinson's tactics?












(only joking mate   ).

Oooh you bitch

For what it's worth hands up he got it spot on, and got us playing ( mostly ) on the ground, and you know what that was the best atmosphere I have witnessed since last season, great result, great set up, and every man jack of them running through brick walls for him and the club, well done Parkinson, there I said it.

MartinBWFC wrote:...well done Parkinson, there I said it.

Wow!






He's not the best manager in the world no doubt but I've been mightily impressed of how he's managed under what must have been extremely difficult circumstances from day one of his appointment.

He found a system that worked for us - and in doing so turned Madine from a bit of a stump into a £6 million player - and I really couldn't fault him for sticking to a plan that worked so well.

I can however understand your and many other peoples views who actually pay your money to watch the games, to find the style not exactly pleasing to endure.

I think personally that the club rather than Parkinson himself got caught out with the change in rules of the embargo at the start of the season resulting in the team being built following our promotion and the end of so many players contracts being left without any dedicated defensive midfield on our books.

If you took out those 9 or so games until things changed to allow Anderson to bring in Henry, then we have more than done enough to hold our own in this division.

Of course with Madine having gone something had to change and one win in our next match since, although it was immensely enjoyable, doesn't mean we are out of the woods yet - far from it.

I do think Parkinson is the best manager we've had since Megson - and if he keeps us up this year - then since Allardyce.

I've got a lot of time for the man, he clearly has the players behind him, there no longer seems to be any trouble coming out of the dressing room since Spearing (pissed up captain abroad during relegation fight) and Madine (arrested in pub incident) have gone, he's turned a team that was absolutely abysmal and gutless under Lennon (that included Madine, Wheater and Spearing remember) into a promotion side - whilst under a season long transfer embargo - and losing Clough halfway through that season.  

In his interviews he comes across as honest and sensible and with a good head on his shoulders.

I believe we will stop up but there's a long way to go yet.

All we have to do is to be in front of three other teams though at the seasons end!

Alnwick was lucky to stay on the pitch and not give away a penalty and many a ref would have given it, but the result was great and the performance apart from Alnwick's gaffe gives some hope for the rest of the season. Still think Kramer would be a useful addition though. Delighted with the result.

It's a similar situation to the first season in the Premier League under Sam when he  had less money and quality available than most  other teams in the relegation battle but through 100% effort and sound organisation in enough matches got the job done.It wouldn't be a major surprise if Fulham's extra quality counts and they tonk us 3-0 next week but as long as we give 100% in enough of the remaining matches we could survive
As was the case under Sam, scrapping for our lives with  low quality players will only get us so far, at some point we are going to have to pay for more quality to move up the division.
To compare his efforts to Sam's is a huge compliment to Parky. However it will be a great achievement to keep us in the second tier without paying a transfer fee  and selling the top scorer  and his best two other players the last 18 months.There's just the small matter of keeping the run going now with the Nottm Forest reserves making up most of his attacking options

wanderlust wrote:Alnwick was lucky to stay on the pitch and not give away a penalty and many a ref would have given it, but the result was great and the performance apart from Alnwick's gaffe gives some hope for the rest of the season. Still think Kramer would be a useful addition though. Delighted with the result.

Aye, it looked a clear penalty and still does on the replay.Maybe we'd still have won or it'd have given them the impetus for a comfortable away win who knows.
The important thing is we were good enough to take advantage of our lucky break and get the win

If results go our way today we'll be 3 points clear with a game in hand, never thought that would be the case, just need to show good against Fulham next week.

A great performance, when i saw the line up i groaned as it looked very defensive but we played well and Ameobi was outstanding from start to finish. 
Walker did ok bit we really looked better when Clough came on, we've been crying out for someone who can travel with the ball and take players on.
Both him and Ameobi are capable of that and they could form a decent partnership.
I didn't understand why Parky took off Little though, i thought he was outstanding as well but all in all a great performance against a team in the top six.

Five minute highlights -