Salford 0-1 Bolton

T.R.O.Y. wrote:Did you watch the game Lusty? Think you’re being a bit harsh. One of the best all round performances I’ve seen from us this season, I thought we were brilliant.

Give your happy-clapper hands a rest TROY.

Brilliant? We were good for about 25 minutes, should have been two or three goals up, then went back into our shell and created very little for the rest of the game. They should have had a penalty and but for a bobble Henderson would have scored.

There's no doubt that the defence and keeper are on top form and we don't look like conceding, but our attacking players are woeful in front of goal. I don't know who missed that open goal header from 3 inches but that just about sums us up.

Great result, but again we've just about done enough without blowing anyone away.

Its the sign of a good side that can grind out wins when they are playing poorly. The defence does look solid but we do need to make the most of the chances we create.

If a manager is judged on how he has improved the team and its individuals, Evatt is proving the cynics wrong. Doyle would normally put away a proportion of those chances he spurned last night but overall his contributions have been vital. He gets in good positions. Our number of shots per game  is improving and the defence and midfield have been much more reliable aided by an able keeper who loudly organises and encourages. The difference between him and Crellin is marked.

 Team spirit is also at a high and can get us through tough patches in games. Lots still to work on but the achievemnt since those early performances this season has been remarkable. What a shame we can't be there to make our voices heard during games. Away support by Wanderers fans is always positive and invaluable. 
No fans at home negates some of the advantage of playing on our own pitch. I'd love to know how many away wins there have been this season across the leagues......my impression is that there has been a much higher percentage than normal.

Home advantage has gone out of the window this season in every league so yes the number of away wins will have gone up massively.

I reckon I'd have scored 30 goals playing as the main striker in this league.

We really have been poor in front of goal. If we do go up there will have to be major investment in the attacking side of the team.

T.R.O.Y. wrote:Did you watch the game Lusty? Think you’re being a bit harsh. One of the best all round performances I’ve seen from us this season, I thought we were brilliant. We won every second ball, matched Salford’s physicality throughout and looked dangerous every time we broke. We were playing an in form team who hadn’t lost at home all season, we were always going to be on the back foot for periods but the defence again stood up well.

Also thought Dapo and Isgrove were fantastic, as much for what they did off the ball as on it, both won the ball back multiple times and carried it long distances. Dapo over plays quite often but I can’t remember having a winger who beats his man so often and his work rate is perfect for Evatt’s press.

Thomason also quality again, love watching him play. We’re still struggling for goals but so long as we keep nicking it who cares.

Agree that midfield is good on work rate but we didn't win the second ball for large periods of the game. Generally our midfield was great apart from a few occasions where they got ahead of play in their eagerness to get forward and were bypassed by a simple pass which is largely why Salford got so many chances. Fortunately we now have a core of Santos Baptiste and Williams to hold things up whilst we regrouped whereas earlier in the season we'd have conceded.
And we had a massive amount of luck and an incompetent ref who helped us out.
Much better than we were at the beginning of the season but highly dependent on keeping everyone fit and there's much to improve on. We still give the ball away too much but at least we're doing it further up the pitch for the most part.
What we have got is lots of energy, a good work rate and momentum and we just have to hope that will be enough to get us over the line.

It's looking good at the moment but with this team we're unlikely to score many goals so we're going to have to grind out results and pray the footballing gods stay with us because I still haven't seen enough to be 100% confident that we won't blow it - especially at this end of the season and considering who we still have to play compared to our rivals.

How about we look at both sides, we played great football for 30 minutes and had complete control, However Salford up their game played some great stuff around the box, BUT could not breach one of the best defensive displays this season. When Delfounso is throwing his body at the ball it tells you how far we have come. Different discussion if we start putting away easy chances.

They have not lost at home for over 12 months but they have now, yet we look for negatives? get real this is league two putting the ball in the net is the hardest part of any game.

Spot on Wessy, i thought there was some great last ditch defending last night. Players literally throwing themselves in front of the ball to prevent a goal.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I reckon I'd have scored 30 goals playing as the main striker in this league.

We really have been poor in front of goal. If we do go up there will have to be major investment in the attacking side of the team.

How would you find the time?

wessy wrote:They have not lost at home for over 12 months but they have now, yet we look for negatives? get real this is league two putting the ball in the net is the hardest part of any game.

So we should just accept missed open goals from 3 inches?

We have missed a boatload of simple chances this season, had we scored just a few of them we'd be top of the league.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

So we should just accept missed open goals from 3 inches?

We have missed a boatload of simple chances this season, had we scored just a few of them we'd be top of the league.

Just remember where we were at Christmas. Would you have taken our imminent automatic promotion back then?

Boggersbelief wrote:Just remember where we were at Christmas. Would you have taken our imminent automatic promotion back then?

Of course, but it would have been even more conclusive had our strikers taken just a few of the easy chances missed.

I only accept 1st place, anything else is failure.

The most important result of last night's games is that we are 4 points clear. We can now afford one loss. So win 4 out of 5 instead of 5 out of 5.  As we know there is an upset in us somewhere along the next five games.
Last night we controlled the first half and they dominated the second. We had the rub of the green again.
Onwards.

Its still in our hands, I'm confident!

BoltonTillIDie wrote:Its still in our hands, I'm confident!

Looking at the games we have left i'm getting excited! They are all winnable with only Morecambe looking tough. I'm going for 4 wins and a draw against Morecambe which means us going up automatically 

If it all goes tits up feel free to blame me 

We could be top of the league this weekend if things go our way!

It feels good to be a Bolton supporter at the moment. After 2 relegations in 2 years, almost going bust and the freefall since 2012 when we got relegated from the Prem it just feels nice to be thinking more positively.

The main thing is that it’s in our hands despite some contenders having a game in hand and all opponents having an incentive to win. Just saying that with football being what it is I think it’s still too early to be counting any chickens.