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Honours were even at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Phil Parkinson’s men drew 2-2 with Bristol City in the first home game of the 2018/19 Sky Bet Championship season.
Wanderers took the lead, when Will Buckley poked the ball home from a David Wheater header just inside the second half.
It quickly became 2-0 on the hour mark, when striker Josh Magennis found space in the opposing box to unleash a driven effort past Robins goalkeeper, Niki Maenpaa.
Lee Johnson’s men replied swiftly, with Andreas Weinmann beating the offside trap to slot the ball past Ben Alnwick.
With ten minutes to go, Jamie Paterson found the equaliser after cutting inside from the right hand side and curled the ball in off the post.
When speaking to bwfc.co.uk after the game, manager Phil Parkinson covered these points…
A verdict on today’s game…
Overall, we would have taken four points from the first two games of the season.
I felt first half, we were a bit passive with the way we played. In the second half, we took our game ten yards up the pitch.
We got tighter and had a bit more intensity about our play and got our rewards with the goals.
Obviously being 2-0 up, we always to hold on and get three points.
I felt the first goal was offside and they are decisions that the linesman have to get right.
The second goal, Wheats has been poleaxed in the middle of the pitch and the referee hasn’t given that decision.
We can always do better ourselves in the way the goals are conceded, but I felt we could have got a bit of help from the officials.
The frustration of losing a two goal lead…
Two-nil up at home, we obviously expect to hold the lead and see the game through.
We put fresh legs on the pitch to try and enable us to do that, but it wasn’t to be.
There are many good aspects of the game today and can take great heart from doing that.
We have a great game coming up against Leeds United on Tuesday, which could give a couple of the lads an opportunity to get some minutes and we are looking forward to it.
The draw being a fair result…
Possibly because Bristol were better than us in the first half, we have to accept that.
In the second half, I felt that we played a lot better. There are areas we need to work on, like when we are leading, could we have kept the ball better.
At times, we crossed the ball from deep when there wasn’t anyone in the box, but we will improve as the season progresses.
On there being a lot of positives to be taken from this game…
I think if you look at the two goals, the first one was a second phase situation where we could have been closer to the player, but he was offside.
The second one was our corner which came out and Gary (O’Neil) has tried to play a pass, it’s fallen short and we got done on the counter. But before that, Wheats has been fouled in the middle of the pitch and it should never have stood.
On taking four points from the opening two Sky Bet Championship fixtures…
Without a doubt, we will take that. We knew that West Brom and Bristol City were going to be tough games.
We know the talent they’ve got, so we are very pleased and more forward to the game on Tuesday.
On Josh Magennis scoring two goals in two games…
I thought Josh did really well in the second half.
I thought in the first half that he wasn’t quite at it like he was last week.
In the second half he led the line well, worked very hard and got his rewards in a goal.
I am very pleased and he has had a great start to his Bolton career.
He is a terrific character and at times today, showed what a good player he is.
And finally, on carrying on the momentum into the next game against Leeds United…
That is the key now, to look at the game today and look where we can improve.
We spoke about trying to get more control in the game. First half we didn’t do that but second half we were much better.
There are areas that Steve, Julian and I will sit down and have a good look at and look to improve.
But, we can take great heart from what we saw today.
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Wanderers took the lead, when Will Buckley poked the ball home from a David Wheater header just inside the second half.
It quickly became 2-0 on the hour mark, when striker Josh Magennis found space in the opposing box to unleash a driven effort past Robins goalkeeper, Niki Maenpaa.
Lee Johnson’s men replied swiftly, with Andreas Weinmann beating the offside trap to slot the ball past Ben Alnwick.
With ten minutes to go, Jamie Paterson found the equaliser after cutting inside from the right hand side and curled the ball in off the post.
When speaking to bwfc.co.uk after the game, manager Phil Parkinson covered these points…
A verdict on today’s game…
Overall, we would have taken four points from the first two games of the season.
I felt first half, we were a bit passive with the way we played. In the second half, we took our game ten yards up the pitch.
We got tighter and had a bit more intensity about our play and got our rewards with the goals.
Obviously being 2-0 up, we always to hold on and get three points.
I felt the first goal was offside and they are decisions that the linesman have to get right.
The second goal, Wheats has been poleaxed in the middle of the pitch and the referee hasn’t given that decision.
We can always do better ourselves in the way the goals are conceded, but I felt we could have got a bit of help from the officials.
The frustration of losing a two goal lead…
Two-nil up at home, we obviously expect to hold the lead and see the game through.
We put fresh legs on the pitch to try and enable us to do that, but it wasn’t to be.
There are many good aspects of the game today and can take great heart from doing that.
We have a great game coming up against Leeds United on Tuesday, which could give a couple of the lads an opportunity to get some minutes and we are looking forward to it.
The draw being a fair result…
Possibly because Bristol were better than us in the first half, we have to accept that.
In the second half, I felt that we played a lot better. There are areas we need to work on, like when we are leading, could we have kept the ball better.
At times, we crossed the ball from deep when there wasn’t anyone in the box, but we will improve as the season progresses.
On there being a lot of positives to be taken from this game…
I think if you look at the two goals, the first one was a second phase situation where we could have been closer to the player, but he was offside.
The second one was our corner which came out and Gary (O’Neil) has tried to play a pass, it’s fallen short and we got done on the counter. But before that, Wheats has been fouled in the middle of the pitch and it should never have stood.
On taking four points from the opening two Sky Bet Championship fixtures…
Without a doubt, we will take that. We knew that West Brom and Bristol City were going to be tough games.
We know the talent they’ve got, so we are very pleased and more forward to the game on Tuesday.
On Josh Magennis scoring two goals in two games…
I thought Josh did really well in the second half.
I thought in the first half that he wasn’t quite at it like he was last week.
In the second half he led the line well, worked very hard and got his rewards in a goal.
I am very pleased and he has had a great start to his Bolton career.
He is a terrific character and at times today, showed what a good player he is.
And finally, on carrying on the momentum into the next game against Leeds United…
That is the key now, to look at the game today and look where we can improve.
We spoke about trying to get more control in the game. First half we didn’t do that but second half we were much better.
There are areas that Steve, Julian and I will sit down and have a good look at and look to improve.
But, we can take great heart from what we saw today.
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