Bolton Wanderers: Cold Day For A Defeat

Evening everybody. Apologies for my missing article last week, and apologies for how late in the day they are being published. There is LOADS going on right now, but I assure you that I will endeavour to get these out as soon as I can.

So, back to Saturday then. Can`t say I left the Reebok with any sense of happiness from the game. Can say I felt a sense of elitism when I stayed until the final whistle. Ahem, where did you all go?

For those who weren`t there: WE LOST. We went up after five minutes, when Mark Davies finished off a good passing move with a shot outside the box that completely baffled the Ispwich keeper. We then continued to dominate the game, with chance after chance failing to hit the back of the net. This has been the theme of the season, and has been even more prevalent in Douglas` short tenure.

Super Kevin Davies had a marvelous chance to double the lead, slotting the ball just past the post. It was fairly entertaining to watch, as we were in complete control against a side that just looked so Mick McCarthy; languid, boring and lacking in content. Going into half time, I didn`t think we were going to get any other result then a win.

Into the second half, that second goal still seemed to evade us. How? We were playing some very good stuff, and apart from the finishing, I couldn`t really complain. Maybe we needed to attack a bit more urgently, but when you are at home and in the lead against a struggling side, you can expect to have a decent amount of time in which to build an attack.

We never got that second goal. It bit us in the Barnsley game, and it would bite us yet again. Ispwich, in a rare move forwards, got players into the box; only for Tyrone Mears to make a sloppy, stupid challenge. Penalty out of nowhere. DJ Campbell. 1-1. You could see it coming from a mile off.

We continued to attack very much with the same vigour we had throughout the match. Nothing had particularly changed about our play, apart from the fact that we were no longer winning. It`s a shame as I would have quite liked us to push and try for the three points. One point isn`t enough at home to Ipswich Town. We didn`t even get that.

A corner for Town deep into injury time. The ball gets cleared and comes to Orr, who belts it towards goal. It`s caught by Bogdan. Oh wait, it`s not. Bogdan fumbles it, and Michael Chopra smacks it in from a yard to send the travelling fans home with something to tell their sisterwives about.

And that was it. Not good enough.

Dougie Freedman has done a good job of shoring up the defence and making us look more like a promotion team than we did under Owen Coyle. But despite all those lovely draws and that unbeaten run, it`s 10 points from 7 games, a possible 21. Hardly settling the world alight, is he? These draws are going to bite us on the bum when we finish seventh!!!

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