League Cup Action: Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion (R1)

i can't be bothered going tonight, can't remember the last time i went to a league cup game to be honest

3 - 1 Bolton.

Bolton: Amos, Wilson, Dervite, Holding, Moxey, Danns, Vela, Davies, Feeney, Clough, Madine

Subs: Fitzsimons, Heskey, Dobbie, Twardzik, Woolery, Taylor, Walker

Lack of decent chances created (i.e. do we need a winger/better creative mid) or lack of a (good enough) natural goalscorer?

Good result IMO. A shit cup we will never win. He shouldn't have played so many first teamers in all honesty.

I can't believe that 5,800 people paid good money to go and watch that.

Let's face it, the only people who take that competition seriously are the sponsors.

Onwards and upwards.

Just glad there weren't any injuries.

its the lack of a goal threat thats worrying me

Could do with a proven goalscorer

NL's media training will kick in,and he'll 'see the positives'.

We need one or else I can see us in League 1 next season.

Report: Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion

IN BRIEF

Despite a dominant performance, Wanderers exited the Capital One Cup at the first hurdle following a 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion.

Having hit the crossbar through Gary Madine in the first period, Wanderers were undoubtedly the side in control of the clash as Ben Amos remained virtually untroubled while his counterpart Remi Matthews was called upon on numerous occasions.

With just three minutes remaining however, the Brewers struck from distance through Matthew Palmer to secure what had seemed an unlikely victory.

TEAM NEWS

Mark Davies donned the armband for Wanderers in the absence of Darren Pratley, while there was also a Bolton debut for academy graduate Rob Holding.

FIRST HALF

Wanderers began brightly, with Zach Clough seeing his threaded pass snuffed out at the pivotal moment as he tried to find Liam Feeney in the box.

Goalmouth chances in the opening ten minutes though were few and far between, with much of the play being contested in the middle third of the pitch with the most notable action being a Neil Danns shot which flew wide of the mark.

With each attack however, Wanderers were looking more of a threat with Clough firing a shot directly at Remi Matthews in the Burton goal with 13 minutes gone.

The visitors then proceeded to enjoy their first chance of the game shortly afterwards, with Lucas Akins’ shot from the edge of the box taking a deflection on its way over the crossbar.

Clough meanwhile saw his own effort narrowly elude the goalmouth, with his free-kick taking a wicked deflection on the way through with Matthews stranded.

Wanderers looked set to break the deadlock with 23 minutes gone as Feeney’s free-kick fell into the path of Gary Madine who was yards away from the net, but the frontman somehow put his header onto the crossbar with the goal at his mercy.

Having previously hit the woodwork on two occasions against Derby on Saturday afternoon, Madine may have been forgiven for thinking that the footballing gods were conspiring against him as he continued his search for his first goal in Bolton colours.

With just ten minutes to go to the break, Feeney created the perfect chance for Bolton to open the scoring as he whipped the ball back after chasing it to the byline, but the winger’s pass eluded any Whites bodies to let Burton off the hook.

It was one way traffic as the half entered its final five minutes, with Clough putting Matthews under pressure, so much so that the keeper punched the ball out of play to save his skin.

Wilson was next to test the goalkeeper, collecting Mark Davies’ pass before forcing Matthews to parry his drive away from goal, while Madine saw yet another effort clear the bar.

There was still time for a goalmouth scramble involving Danns, Madine and Clough on the stroke of half time, but it somehow stayed out to ensure that the clash remained goalless at the break.

SECOND HALF

With no changes for either side during half time, Wanderers almost drew first blood within two minutes of the restart as Feeney powered throughout on goal, only to be denied at the death by Matthews’ towering frame.

Ben Amos was finally called upon just two minutes later, with the keeper needed to put himself in the way of Jerome Binnom-Williams’ drilled angled shot.

Up the other end of the field meanwhile, Davies saw his shot blocked at close range in a crowded penalty area, while Feeney failed to finish a wonderful team move with just the keeper to beat.

The pressure was building from Bolton, with Burton finding themselves pinned in their own third for much of the opening stages of the second period as the Whites piled forward in their numbers.

Amos was virtually a spectator was Wanderers continued to push forward, while Clough somehow skewed his shot wide of the mark after collecting the ball halfway inside the area.

With 22 minutes to go, Neil Lennon introduced Stephen Dobbie into the mix in place of Clough as the hosts looked to grab the goal which had so far eluded them in the cup clash.

The visitors were still struggling to contain Wanderers, but a stoppage in play due to a head injury to Dorian Dervite saw the tempo of the game drop slightly following the restart.

With time running out, Feeney saw his flash shot down the throat of Matthews parried away for a corner while Dervite saw his own strike from 20 yards saved by the keeper.

Out of nowhere however, the visitors took a shock lead completely against the run of play as Matthew Palmer’s shot from distance deflected past Amos in the Bolton goal with just three minutes remaining.

Throwing Emile Heskey into the mix in place of Feeney, Wanderers entered five minutes of added time with Dobbie’s curled effort being easily caught by Matthews.

Try as they might however, their dominance was ultimately in vain as Burton held out to progress.

FULL TIME

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Calm down lads.

I do doom & gloom and even I'm not overly arsed about this result.

They're a well organised side by all accounts and we've got Kelly's Heroes plus some kids.

This result means nowt.

Not sure how we lost that game, totally in control, one deflected goal being the difference, thought we played some nice stuff, but we lack t that killer touch. Last year we were outplayed by Bury and won, this year we deserved to win and lost. No worries i had a £5 on Bury to win at Wigan lol.

I did say in an earlier post (see 16)that one goal would settle this. and it did 7 championship clubs out before extra time so not on our own.

Its okay we will win 6-1 in the second leg








No second leg you say









Lennon out

Neil Danns was Fucking Shite, worst player on the pitch by a country mile, Feeney wasn't far behind, the rest played ok.

16 shots off target speaks volumes. Not overly arsed about the result, we dominated throughout and there were positives to take from the game.. Madine needs to find a killer touch as he's wasted far too many already. 

I like Ream but we need to fuck him off and buy a replacement for Feeney and a goalscorer.

Madine's fucking pants and nobody else would take him.

He's no Messi and he's not our saviour.

He's a cheap option and he's about as good as we can hope for, given our dire financial straits.

Let's not all pin our hopes on him and somehow think that he's a 20 goals a season man because he's patently not.

Yeah, he hit the bar against Derby on the opening day when we were all desperately looking for signs of hope - did it go in and did we win the game.....?

Hmm.......