Smells like team spirit: Wanderers fight for point at PrestonAN imperfect point, perhaps, but this result at Deepdale was more than meets the eye.
Phil Parkinson will analyse chunks of Wanderers’ performance at Preston and know his team will have to improve considerably if they are to stand any chance of maintaining this excellent start to the season.
Equally, he will look at the way his players rallied to fight back from two down, bossing one of the Championship’s hardest-working midfields, and allow himself a little smile at how long 12 months can feel in football.
Before Sammy Ameobi and Pawel Olkowski hauled Bolton back on level terms, the party atmosphere had been silenced among the 4,000-plus travelling support as first Callum Robinson and then Alan Browne administered two lethal blows, leaving the Whites on their haunches.
The reaction from behind Ben Alnwick’s goal to going two down was invaluable. Given the poor performance a weekend earlier against Sheffield United, it would have been entirely understandable for supporters to sulk. Save for a few seconds of silence to allow the information to process, the noise was entirely positive, even drowning out the celebrations of the home support.
As if there wasn’t enough to digest on the field in an absorbing contest, the relentless backing from the away fans made for fascinating viewing, and sums up a changing mood within the club.
Take Wildschut, for example. The Dutchman had played a terrible square pass along his own back four which allowed Brandon Barker to slip Robinson through for the opening goal. The winger dropped immediately to his knees in disappointment and the incident clearly affected him – yet there was never a moment he was singled out. Like a figurative arm around the shoulder, fans chanted his name in an effort to restore his confidence, right up to the moment he was replaced by Craig Noone in the second half.
His example was not an isolated one. At 35 years old, Gary O’Neil is the last man you’d expect to sprint 60 yards to charge down a goalkeeper’s kick in the 92nd minute. The former West Ham and Middlesbrough man set the tone in midfield and Bolton’s supporters responded in kind.
Every David Wheater slide challenge or Mark Beevers header was cheered with cup final glee, and that kind of connection – especially away from home – will be worth its weight in gold for Parkinson’s side this season.
A year ago, Bolton went into the international break bottom of the Championship, beaten 4-0 at Hull City. Parkinson had described the desperate defeat at his lowest moment at the club – although by the end of a tough campaign, it would have some company.
Fast forward to September 2018 and after a summer of canny squad-building the outlook is nowhere near as bleak. Just a look at the bench – Clayton Donaldson, Josh Vela, Jack Hobbs, Erhun Oztumer – suggests the manager stands a much better chance this time around. And a thoroughly deserved one at that.
Parkinson is a realist, however, and he will demand better than he saw in the opening 20 minutes when Preston threatened to run away with the game.
Robinson’s opener was well-taken but Browne’s second – a volley on the turn from the edge of the box – was a work of art. Questions may be asked of whether Wanderers had retreated too deep, or whether they should have contested the bouncing ball on the edge of the box, but the finish was top-drawer.
One of the catalysts in the fight-back was Joe Williams, the on-loan Everton man making his first appearance in a Bolton shirt. The 20-year-old made 34 league appearances for Barnsley last season and had been Parkinson’s number one midfield target over the summer.
Williams snapped into challenges and showed a calmness on the ball way beyond his years. And with knowledgeable types like Jason Lowe and O’Neil around him, the youngster might be one to watch this term.
Ameobi’s goal seven minutes before the break was just what the doctor ordered. Wanderers had already stabilised but a frantic scramble in the Preston box after Browne had put his keeper Declan Rudd in trouble by ducking out of a header had set the nerves jangling among the home supporters. Moments later, the winger’s powerful swerving shot from 30 yards seemed to catch Rudd off-guard, and nestled into the bottom corner with the keeper left diving the wrong way.
The fight-back was on. No-one expected a second goal to arrive so soon, however, and certainly not from the right boot of full-back Olkowski.
The Polish defender has been a revelation since joining from FC Koln in the summer and was compared to a Rolls Royce by his captain, David Wheater. Picking up on a loose ball following Josh Magennis’s run on the edge of the box, his right-footed finish was more traction engine as the ball smashed off the bar and over the line.
Wanderers looked the more likely to win the game from there. Ben Alnwick made a couple of important saves – one to deny Robinson came at a crucial stage of the game. But otherwise the game’s tempo was dictated in a thoroughly professional manner by O’Neil and Co.
Jason Lowe had a goal-bound volley blocked and Magennis was denied by some fine last-ditch defending by Ben Davies.
There were moments of skulduggery which harked back to Sam Allardyce’s golden era when a foul needed to be made, or a few seconds of time needed to be wasted. All in the best possible taste, of course.
And the frustrations boiled over after the final whistle as Ben Pearson was sent off for an alleged head-butt on Williams, who was also shown a yellow card. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Wanderers may be a touch disappointed they didn’t find a winner having put so much in to get back into the match, and to dominate after the break. In the bigger picture, however, a point to go into the international break in seventh place was ample reward.
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