Bolton 1-2 Preston

Fooking working in ingol today as well. Hiding my keyring and parking round the corner

Play a striker- Madine will do, Woolery will do, even Dobbie and we stand a chance of winning.
If he plays Clough as the lone 'striker'- then its back to normal and we'll lose .

Got a good feeling about today, can smell it in the air.

Allardyce will be at the Macron today.

Fred Allardyce from Farnworth?

Sam Allardyce from Dudley

Rachubka, Wilson, Holding, Derik, Moxey, Trotter, Davies, Pratley, Feeney, Clough, Madine.

SUBS - Campbell, Vela, Danns, Silva, Dobbie, Woolery, Finney

I think a win for us. Scrappy game ahead, they almost always are but the takeover and end of the immediate threat of liquidation or admin should now give us a lift. 1-0 to the Trotters.

Report: Bolton 1-2 Preston North End

IN BRIEF

Wanderers suffered a late defeat at the hands of Preston North End at Macron Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts drew first blood in the clash halfway through the first period with Liam Trotter opening his account for the season with a well-taken strike from just outside the area.

North End were level 13 minutes into the second half however with Jordan Hugill bundling the ball home from close range, while Marnick Vermijl completed the turnaround with four minutes remaining as he poked home at the far post to steal victory for the Lilywhites.

TEAM NEWS

Gary Madine returned to the starting line-up for Wanderers, while Kaiyne Woolery was back amongst the substitute having sat out Bolton’s midweek clash with Ipswich due to illness.

The visitors meanwhile featured only six names on their bench after the late withdrawal of Paul Huntington.

FIRST HALF

At a noisy Macron Stadium, the game got underway and it was the visitors who enjoyed the first sight of goal with Jordan Hugill seeing his glancing header skim the crossbar inside the opening 60 seconds of the game.

The tempo was set from the off, with Wanderers responding with pressure of their own soon after.

Madine was in the thick of the action with ten minutes on the clock, with the bandaged frontman calling for a penalty kick after seemingly being upended in the box, but the referee remained unmoved and signalled for play to continue.

Despite enjoying the opening opportunity, Preston found themselves on the backfoot for the majority of the first 15 minutes of the game, with Madine’s glancing header from a corner a signal of Bolton’s intent in the clash.

The game continued at a solid pace, with Zach Clough’s header from a Liam Feeney cross falling into the arms of Anders Lindegaard in the 20th minute with the goalmouth at his mercy.

Having peppered the Preston goal, Wanderers finally broke the deadlock with 22 minutes on the clock as Trotter collected the ball 20 yards out, with the towering midfielder curling the ball home into the bottom corner of the net.

A deserved opener for the Whites, they certainly weren’t resting on their laurels although the visitors opened up the game a little more after going behind.

Although Bolton forced to defend for the first time in the game at this point, the Lilywhites couldn’t make their efforts count where it mattered with Paul Rachubka remaining untested.

As the clock ran down to half time, the tempo of the game did drop slightly with neither side able to make any real inroads, although it was Bolton who were looking the likelier of the two.

At the break however, Bolton’s advantage remained at just the one.

SECOND HALF

With no changes for either side at the break, the game restarted with Preston almost levelling inside the first 60 seconds, but Paul Gallagher was unable to meet a dangerous cross-goal ball.

Up the other end meanwhile, a superb Feeney run down the flank and subsequent cross found Madine, with the striker unable to hit the target under pressure from his marker.

With a best-of-the-season attendance of 18,423 confirmed, the crowd inside Macron Stadium were certainly being entertained.

It was end to end in the encounter, with Preston certainly showing more intent than they had in the first period and they were rewarded in the 58th minute as Hugill bundled home from close range after Bolton failed to clear their lines.

Wanderers almost saw their lead restored on the hour mark as Mark Davies volleyed goalwards, with Lindegaard having to recover the ball after initially fumbling the midfielder’s powerful effort.

Despite having been pegged back, Bolton still looked dangerous on the break with Trotter coming within inches of doubling his tally with a close range header.

It was frustrating stuff for the Trotters, but the introduction of Wellington Silva with 22 minutes remaining in place of the skipper signalling Bolton’s intent during the final quarter.

Tackles were flying in all over the place, with tempers flaring as both teams went in search of a winning goal.

The chances were appearing but Wanderers were finding it hard to capitalise with Clough and Wellington testing Lindegaard.

Inside the closing stages, Neil Lennon threw Woolery into the mix in place of Clough as Bolton went all out for attack, but it was the visitors who scored with four minutes remaining as Vermijl poked the ball home at the far post.

With five minutes of additional time indicated, Wanderers threw men forward in a bid to force an equalising goal while Eoin Doyle had an effort disallowed for offside for the visitors, but it was all in vain as Preston held out.

FULL TIME

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Boggersbelief wrote:Allardyce will be at the Macron today.

He paid his tenner and joined BWFCST!!

Is everyone so disillusioned that nobody has anything to say?
 I went today and felt a draw was a fairer result.
They seemed fitter and stronger than we did. And infinitely better organized. Looks like curtains now. I daresay that may be the last time we see some of them!

Thought Preston where the better team throughout and deserved the win. Wilson was troubled all day long and was easily beaten, but we had no options on the bench to change it.   Pratley was poor again and subbed rightly, I think Lennon is now stuck with wanting to drop his captain but not having the guts to go through with it. Madine was back to his usual light weight performance and didn't offer much up front.

first half we looked good but we needed to score more than one with all the possession and chances we had.

Second half they put a winger on and Wilson couldn't handle him, that changed the game for me and we were poor in the second half. Why on earth does he keep picking Madine? He is the worst striker we've ever had (and i remember Ian Stevens), can't lead the line, rarely wins a header and was a passenger yet again,
Again Lennon ignores this and takes off Clough yet again! The man is clueless and must go sooner rather than later
I bet Big Sam couldn't believe how far we have fallen and how bad we really are.

Ok, first half....pitiful second with absolutely no passion or heart. There was only ever going to be one winner, surprised it took them so long.

Lennon is clueless. Resign you bellend.

I have plenty to say and will do a longer version of this later... 

Madine's worst game for us. But I am normally a fan of his and he outs usually very good in the air.  

One of our poorest home performances in the last few months. 
But still didn't play that badly.  Just  an off day. 

Todays showing by Silva shows why he doesn't get many starts. Embarrasing. 

I don't blame Lennon for taking off Clough. 

I do think we left it too late too bring on Wooly again.  

Overall our defence is looking the strongest it had looked for a while.  

Trotter did ok. Pratley was lacking.

Norpig wrote:
Again Lennon ignores this and takes off Clough yet again! The man is clueless and must go sooner rather than later

Just ask United fans what Ferguson was like with Ronaldo. Even at 21 he was their best player and should have been the first name on the sheet on performances alone, but was always getting dropped (or "rested") and subbed.
In contrast, look at Januzaj who United completely depended on under Moyes. Absolutely lost his way since.

I find it as frustrating as anybody that he keeps taking Clough off after 80 minutes, but I don't think for one minute - especially taking his injuries into account - that no other manager would do the same.

Madine was appalling,again. He has to be ditched,he offers nothing, doesn't even win anything in the air despite being about 7'8" tall. However young and inexperienced Woolery is at least he has pace and some footballing ability. What's to lose now by giving him a run in the side alongside Clough. At least we'd have plenty of pace up front with those two plus Feeney.

I couldn't believe that Madine stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes he ran around like a headless chicken and spent most of the game on his arse !