Bolton 4-0 Blackburn Rovers

4-0 doesn't reflect how the game was played. 7-0 wouldn't have been too flattering...

A great result and performance. Mason missed another 1 on 1. I don't know if Spearings goal crossed the line and we seemed to play on for 15 seconds before the ref noticed the lino had given a goal...

Mason man of match. Everyone else played awesome. Just knew Moritz was going to score when he git hold of the ball at the end.

Well done Freedman, your exellent use of loan signings just shows how piss poor the other players left at your disposal were.

By the way, I like how when we started playing crappy keep ball near the flag all the crowd pulled out the biggest chant of the day... "we want four, we want four"

Report: Bolton 4-0 Blackburn

IN BRIEF

Goals from Medo Kamara, Joe Mason, Jay Spearing and Andre Moritz ensured that Wanderers ran out comfortable winners against Blackburn Rovers with a emphatic 4-0 victory at the Reebok Stadium.

Following an impressive start to proceedings, the Whites raced into a two goal lead before the break courtesy of the Sierra Leone international’s header and the on-loan Cardiff striker’s second goal in as many games.

The home side weren’t finished there however with Spearing making it three shortly after the restart before Moritz fired home in the dying seconds of the game to record an impressive victory and the bragging rights for the Bolton faithful.

TEAM NEWS

Zat Knight and Neil Danns were drafted into Wanderers’ starting line-up in place of Matt Mills and Darren Pratley, while loan signing Alan Hutton was named amongst the Bolton substitutes alongside Andre Moritz on his return from injury.

There were also two changes for the visitors, with Chris Taylor and Markus Olsson taking their place in Rovers’ starting eleven ahead of the injured Tom Cairney and Grant Hanley.

FIRST HALF

Wanderers began the half brightly, with Mark Davies winning a free-kick just outside the area inside the opening two minutes after good link-up play from Lukas Jutkiewicz and Danns, but his effort was deflected away for a corner.

Having sent out an early warning sign to the visitors, Danns powered into the area shortly after before unleashing a shot which took a deflection on its way goalbound, with Paul Robinson being forced to pull off a reflex save to deny him the opening goal of the game.

Wanderers looked certain to break the deadlock with ten minutes on the clock as Mark Davies single-handedly powered his way into the area following a mazy run from the half way line before placing the ball past a beaten Robinson, but Matthew Kilgallon was on hand to clear his effort off the line.

After finding themselves virtual spectators for much of the opening stages of the clash, Blackburn almost took the lead against the run of play as Olsson executed a pinpoint volley from just inside the area in the 14th minute, but he was to be denied by the outstretched palm of Adam Bogdan.

The chance appeared to rejuvenate Rovers, with Jordan Rhodes’ ambitious run from his own half forcing the Bolton keeper into yet another smart save just minutes later.

With both sets of supporters in full voice in what was already proving to be a fiercely contested local derby, Wanderers did finally get the goal that their early showing deserved with 23 minutes gone as Medo connected with Danns’ ball into the area before powering a header past a despairing Robinson.

A goal which not many would begrudge the Whites given their dominance, it was one which had the players brimming with confidence  and almost brought a second goal as Alex Baptiste steamed into the box, but the ball was whipped away just as he was about to pull the trigger.

Having found themselves in front, the tempo of the game appeared to drop slightly but Danns almost had what would have been a deserved goal of his own six minutes before the break, only to see Robinson parry his powerful shot away from danger.

Wanderers almost doubled their advantage yet again with 42 minutes gone as Joe Mason found himself one on one with the Blackburn keeper, but the frontman was unable to beat the shot stopper and put the rebound narrowly wide, much to the anguish of the Reebok faithful.

Not to be deterred however, the young striker made up for his miss on the stroke of half time as he turned his man inside the area before unleashing a half volley past Robinson to send the home supporters into raptures.

SECOND HALF

Having ended the first half on a high, Wanderers began the second in emphatic fashion as Jay Spearing extended the Whites’ lead with just two minutes on the clock with an effort which crashed off the crossbar and over the goal line.

Despite the referee himself initially not awarding it and play going on, his assistant indicated that it was indeed a legitimate goal to the delight of Spearing, his teammates and the Reebok faithful.

With a comfortable three goal advantage, the Whites were playing almost with a swagger and it was so nearly four as Knight’s tame header whistled agonisingly past the upright.

Chances were going begging for Bolton as they looked to increase their handsome lead, with Lukas Jutkiewicz’s low drive flashing narrowly past Robinson’s far post.

After finding themselves very much on the backfoot for much of the opening 20 minutes of the second period, Blackburn did come close to reducing the deficit through Rhodes who rode to head home, but his effort flew inches wide of the Bolton goalmouth.

With the Reebok faithful in full voice, Baptiste almost made it four with 20 minutes remaining of the clash but he saw his effort fly just over the crossbar.

Having been a thorn in Blackburn’s side throughout the afternoon, Davies was withdrawn from the clash in the 77th minute and received a standing ovation from three sides of the Reebok as he was replaced with Chung-Yong Lee.

A fourth goal seemed to be imminent, and it looked to have arrived with eight minutes left as Mason capitalised on pandemonium in the Blackburn penalty area, but the frontman could only fire his effort into the side netting with the goal at his mercy.

Wanderers did enjoy opportunities to extend their lead as the clock ran down, and they did so in style in the dying seconds of the game as substitute Moritz unleashed from distance to make it four and in turn help the Whites record the most emphatic of derby day victories.

FULL TIME

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Freedman - Great for the fans

Dougie Freedman paid tribute to the club’s supporters following Saturday’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers, claiming that the result was one which was richly deserved given their backing throughout the game.

Goals from Medo Kamara, Joe Mason, Jay Spearing and Andre Moritz earned Wanderers a resounding win over their local rivals.

“It was a result for the fans today,” said Freedman following the final whistle. “There is no doubt about that. The fans have stuck by us through some difficult moments.

“They really understand where we are and they get behind us – that is what has got us through this difficult season.

“There have been some testing days, but as the coach I represent this football club and I try not to come up with many excuses or the blame factor or point fingers – I’ve always tried to ensure that we look at ourselves in the mirror and make sure we’re working towards success.

“Some days you will have highs and lows, and today was definitely a high against our local rivals in a derby match.

“We were by far the better team – we outplayed them, we outpassed them and we created numerous opportunities which was very pleasing to see.“

With the victory marking the Whites’ second clean sheet in as many games, the manager admitted his delight at not only the fact that his side denied Rovers with a sterling performance at the back, but also in the general demeanour of the team too.

“The clean sheet we managed to get is also good, but I felt that our approach play today was fantastic and we created some entertaining stuff.

“We work hard on the training ground and we’re working towards success – along the way, you might not please everybody, but I felt that today we touched upon a certain game which is the way I want us to go.

“I’ve been here for 18 months and it’s a work in progress and I’m working towards trying to get a team that is suitable for the Championship.

“It’s a very workman-like division and I felt that today we had a team out there who are capable of coping with anybody.

“I felt that the balance of the team was fantastic and that’s what gets you results.”

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Police are appealing the public, apparently Jordan Rhodes has been missing since 3 pm this afternoon.

MartinBWFC wrote:Police are appealing the public, apparently Jordan Rhodes has been missing since 3 pm this afternoon.

Love it.    

have a look in zat knights pocket

cairocuz wrote:have a look in zat knights pocket

 

As if this win wasn't sweet enough, all the teams below us lost apart from Yeovil and we overtook the plummeting Blackpool. Only downside was that Bournemouth scored 5 today so although they are just ahead of Brum and us their GD is now just one different from ours. Picky under the circumstances, but today has been a good day for BWFC and us long-suffering fans.

wanderlust wrote:As if this win wasn't sweet enough, all the teams below us lost apart from Yeovil and we overtook the plummeting Blackpool. Only downside was that Bournemouth scored 5 today so although they are just ahead of Brum and us their GD is now just one different from ours. Picky under the circumstances, but today has been a good day for BWFC and us long-suffering fans.

  And I even give credit to Dougie, his tactics were clearly spot on. More importantly the players clearly knew what was expected of them and bought into his ideas of how to play this one. Good job all the way round today.

Certainly playing well at the moment with the 442, sounded like a different team in terms of the way the players were closing down and working hard off the ball. I think that's as much down to a change in attitude - which could well be brought on by playing a formation they all want to, as two up front. 

The diamond in midfield is what we played during last season's great run right? Shame it's taken so long for Dougie to change his tactics, but clearly bringing in the Juke and Mason was part of a plan to change the way we play. Rightly of wrongly, he clearly didn't fancy Beckford and C. Davies to do that, and N'gog with Beckford was hit and miss but Mason and Juke with Mavies in behind seem to be working well.

A transformation for us anyway, I hope he sticks with it at Leeds but they're in good form too so will be a tough game. Freeing up the funds to get Juke on a permanent should be the boards focus at the moment IMO.

bwfc1874 wrote:Certainly playing well at the moment with the 442, sounded like a different team in terms of the way the players were closing down and working hard off the ball. I think that's as much down to a change in attitude - which could well be brought on by playing a formation they all want to, as two up front. 

The diamond in midfield is what we played during last season's great run right? Shame it's taken so long for Dougie to change his tactics, but clearly bringing in the Juke and Mason was part of a plan to change the way we play. Rightly of wrongly, he clearly didn't fancy Beckford and C. Davies to do that, and N'gog with Beckford was hit and miss but Mason and Juke with Mavies in behind seem to be working well.

A transformation for us anyway, I hope he sticks with it at Leeds but they're in good form too so will be a tough game. Freeing up the funds to get Juke on a permanent should be the boards focus at the moment IMO.

As much as I'm impressed by Jutkiewicz I disagree, Cravies plays much the same way and if we could bag Mason permanently I think they'd be a very effective partnership, especially with Beckford available as a backup if we need a change. 

For my money the board's priority should be to find the money to buy at least one Left Back as a top priority. If we do have money to buy Juke AFTER that then by all means we should look into it but given he has three years left on his 'Boro contract I think it would probably cost too much to do it in our current circumstances.

Fair enough, personally I think Juke's technically better than Davies and more mobile. Think he could lead the line for us throughout a season which I can't see Davies doing to be honest. The Juke and Beckford would be very interesting but we'll see what happens at the end of the season.

bwfc1874 wrote:Fair enough, personally I think Juke's technically better than Davies and more mobile. Think he could lead the line for us throughout a season which I can't see Davies doing to be honest. The Juke and Beckford would be very interesting but we'll see what happens at the end of the season.

I agree, Juke does look better than Cravies BUT it's going to be about money and we don't seem to have any. For that reason and because I believe Cravies IS still a good player with the right man in support I feel we should focus what cash we do have on finding a left back first. I wish we could afford to do both but given we just refused to pay 320K for a Left back who's already played for his country twice at the age of 20 I fear that would be asking too much.

WTF does it take for us to be on the championship show 1st?

After watching the highlights, they were all fantastic goals and some fantastic goalkeeping from Boggers.

Great to get a clean sheet at home as well!

Glad to see Zat Knight had another great game, One up the Bum for the Haters. 

After buying drinks my lad had £1.50 left in change, 4-0 at 66-1 winning £100.50 thank you BWFC

everyone played well, even Knight! The Juke looks like an excellent signing, he never lost a header all game and held the ball up really well (and yes i was one of the doubters). Also Danns was excellent again even if the bloke who sits behind me reckons he is rubbish   

Best performance of the season (i know, there wasn't a lot of competition for that title)

I wonder if something has happened to boost morale in the dressing room. I don't think you can put the last two performances entirely down to the change in system. It's like every player's head has been lifted. Medo and Spearing in particular look less clueless with the ball at their feet. But then I always said that would happen if we put another striker up there, because they've got more options ahead of them, and aren't constantly forced into a backward or sideways pass.

I'm not a fan of us playing with no out and out wingers, but I'm starting to think Danns and MDavies give us enough width, when they drift into those positions.