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Bolton Wanderers' Under-23s suffered a narrow defeat away at Crewe Alexandra in their latest U23 Professional Development League (North) fixture on Monday afternoon.
Coming into the clash off the back of a 1-0 victory over Burnley last time out, the Whites set about making it back-to-back wins as they looked to consolidate their position at the top of the table.
Unfortunately however, despite creating enough goalscoring opportunities to comfortably score a number of goals with Adam Mitchell, Jack Earing and Liam Morris coming close, David Lee's charges failed to cause any real problems for Dave Richards in the Railwaymen's goal.
Prior to their opener, the home side had a goal disallowed for offside, but the decisive effort was struck five minutes into the second half as Oliver Finney's shot deflected beyond Jake Turner with the Bolton keeper unable to prevent his effort finding the back of the net.
The Trotters did push to level while the Alex also enjoyed chances to extend their lead, but come full time, Finney's goal was enough to ensure that Wanderers slipped to defeat.
Speaking following the game, coach Lee said, "Unfortunately, we weren't ruthless enough in front of goal today.
"We had enough possession in and around the attacking third, yet we didn't find enough quality to complete the opportunities.
"It was certainly a frustrating game, with me learning a lot about the players in regards to how they need to adapt their games to compensate for the difficult conditions and opposition.
"Jan Kirchhoff however did get 70 minutes under his belt, with that helping towards getting him up to speed for the first team squad.
"We cannot dwell on this match however and have now to move on quickly in preparation for Thursday's game at Birmingham."
Bolton: Turner, Brockbank, Muscatt, Edwards, Mitchell, Jones-Griffiths, Morris, Kirchhoff, Hall, White, Earing
Subs: Connell, Aspinall, Battle, Lonsdale
Source
Coming into the clash off the back of a 1-0 victory over Burnley last time out, the Whites set about making it back-to-back wins as they looked to consolidate their position at the top of the table.
Unfortunately however, despite creating enough goalscoring opportunities to comfortably score a number of goals with Adam Mitchell, Jack Earing and Liam Morris coming close, David Lee's charges failed to cause any real problems for Dave Richards in the Railwaymen's goal.
Prior to their opener, the home side had a goal disallowed for offside, but the decisive effort was struck five minutes into the second half as Oliver Finney's shot deflected beyond Jake Turner with the Bolton keeper unable to prevent his effort finding the back of the net.
The Trotters did push to level while the Alex also enjoyed chances to extend their lead, but come full time, Finney's goal was enough to ensure that Wanderers slipped to defeat.
Speaking following the game, coach Lee said, "Unfortunately, we weren't ruthless enough in front of goal today.
"We had enough possession in and around the attacking third, yet we didn't find enough quality to complete the opportunities.
"It was certainly a frustrating game, with me learning a lot about the players in regards to how they need to adapt their games to compensate for the difficult conditions and opposition.
"Jan Kirchhoff however did get 70 minutes under his belt, with that helping towards getting him up to speed for the first team squad.
"We cannot dwell on this match however and have now to move on quickly in preparation for Thursday's game at Birmingham."
Bolton: Turner, Brockbank, Muscatt, Edwards, Mitchell, Jones-Griffiths, Morris, Kirchhoff, Hall, White, Earing
Subs: Connell, Aspinall, Battle, Lonsdale
Source