[madsteve]

One Wednesday player stood out like a beacon.

One Wednesday player almost cost us a match we should have won.

Match Report - Later (Busy this morning).

[OvalOwl]

So I finally went to a game at  the Reebok Macron. It looks much smaller on the inside but the facilities are nice and the locals seem friendly.

<grumpy old man> Far too many kids up on a school night when they should have been in bed for my liking. </grumpy old man>

A game of two halves with most of the action being in the far goal, Wednesday in the first half and Noblot in the second.

As the second half wore on it looked more and more likely that we would be sucker-punched as our midfield went missing and fell back deeper so at times it looked like we were playing 8-0-2. Fortunately Noblot are even weaker in front of goal than us and even man mountain Heskey (he's as old as the hills these days) didn't make much difference when he came on for that old lag of a fan beater. Bannan and FF both seemed to tire as the second half wore on so perhaps as they get some match fitness they will be able to play till the 95th minute.

Nil - Nil a fair reflection of two sides that seemingly don't know where the onion bag is. We give away far too many free kicks in dangerous areas (I'm looking at you Hutch!) and we still take far too many piss poor corners that fail to beat the first man or sail over to the far corner. Sort it out CC!

[peiowl]

According to CC, all that's missing is goals.

Profound, eh?

[Jacko The Flopsy Piglet]

What is there to say that hasn't already been said?

Another blank, another uninspiring result, another wasted season, no doubt!

Roll on Saturday. Woo hoo, can't wait!

[Statesideowl]

Some of us knew Hutch would be Banned after this game but he played anyway.

Tough game at Fulham now with Newcastle coming up too. Fulham always batter us so I don't expect any points there.

I'm glad we're playing nice football, it's also great to have higher calibre players in the squad. 1 win from 7 games (1pt from the last possible 9pts) is starting to depress me greatly.

I'm not sure how much longer excuses can be made to be honest. We should all be expecting more from talented players like this.

Bolton are poor and will be in the bottom half all season IMO. If they didn't have Silva from Arsenal they wouldn't have had one single stand out player from last night. If we can't even scrape out a 1-0 win against shit teams in the league, we're in a spot of trouble.

We're chasing the pack now as we sit 1pt above the bottom 3.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

I think we'll be reyt, obviously I've not seen us play since Reading cos I've been busy but if we're playing well on Saturday that is ok by me.
Another 5 or so games without a win and I'd be worried

[Owlkev71]

Well I'm going saturday, paid £31 north stand, hopefully we can find the goal trail then

[madsteve]

Getting There But Still Only a Draw

More mixed messages from Wednesday. To those who watched the match, it was entertaining, vibrant, exciting in parts and some of the best football we have played since the early 90s. To the doubters, it was another two points thrown away and more proof that we need a quality striker.

The truth is that both views are probably correct.

First half particularly, we were outstanding and if we had been three up by half time then no-one could have complained. Matias squandered two early chances, courtesy of Hunt's whipped in cross & Bannan's exquisite through ball. The first one, he contrived to hit a defender on the line when he had half the goal gaping and the second he tried to round the keeper when a shot would have been better and a pass to his right meant a certain goal.

Lee created and missed the best of the rest. Beautifully worked, a one two with Bannan followed by a sumptuous flick over the defenders head (a la Matias at Leeds), the finish was lacking as he hit it too close to the keeper. Hunt, Bannan & Forestieri all passed off decent opportunities before half time.

Bolton, by contrast, offered little except for winger, Alves Da Silva, repeatedly making Hunt look like a statue. Bolton clearly targeted Hunt and found easy pickings as he couldn't track his man and was easily beaten time after time. Wildsmith baled him out with a good save but generally the winger lacked the quality of delivery to trouble us.

The second half started as the first ended with Wednesday on top. Forestieri should have scored after a defensive error gave him a free shot from eight yards but instead of blasting it, he tried to lift it over the keeper, which took it over the bar.

I felt this was the time to introduce Joao & Sougou, while we still had the momentum. The game changed after two silly moments from Nuhiu. Firstly, he gave the ball away needlessly when Forestieri was well placed then he tried a stupid back heel when a simple pass would have given Bannan a good shooting chance. This seemed to inspire Bolton and a few Wednesday shoulders began to slump.

By the time CC made the changes (67 & 73 mins), our attacking impetus had been lost so while I think he made the right changes, if he had done them both on the hour, the outcome might have been better.

It took Joao & Sougou some time to get into the match & by the time they did, there was little time left. Joao caught the eye with two nice turns at the death, one which resulted in a neat shot on target.

At no time in the match did I fear that Bolton would score so it was pretty much a question of could we score? We failed to score for the first time this season but collected our first clean sheet since the opening day.

The referee showed great inconsistency. He allowed an X Rated foul on Matias go in the first half with just a warning but in the second half, he went yellow card mad with every foul just about being a yellow card unless it was a player already booked.

Wildsmith - 7 - did as well as Westwood would have & that is praise
Hunt - 3 - one great cross but cannot excuse inept defending that wouldn't be accepted in junior football
Lees - 7 - outstanding, back to his best
Turner - 6 - generally sound but lucky not to concede stupid penalty for pulling Madine's shirt when ball in the air
Pudil - 6 - a couple of wayward passes but untroubled defensively
Hutchinson - 7 - looks quality now with Lee & Bannan alongside him
Lee - 7 - good link play
Bannan - 8 - outstanding, involved in all our best moves
Matias - 5 - involved more but missed two great chances
Forestieri - 5 - great quality, but missed his chances
Nuhiu - 4 - never influenced the game positively, gave the ball away too often & gave away several silly free kicks
..................................................................
Sougou - 5 - never really got into gear
Joao - 6 - potential but needs more game time to develop
Lopez - 6 - not involved much

We will get there if everyone holds their nerve but it isn't going to happen overnight unless we win the next three then confidence & adrenaline might take us there quicker than we imagined. The first half last night was a delight to watch. The lack of goals was disappointing but I was proud of what we are trying to do. We made Bolton look very poor and their fans are saying we are the only team to outplay them this season. Time will tell how valuable this point is but on the balance of play, it should have been three.

Stat Attack!!!

Most Attempts:

Forestieri 3
Lee 2

Most Attempts On Target:

Matias 1
Lee 1
Joao 1

Most Tackles:

Lee 5
Hunt 4
Hutchinson 3
Bannan 2

Most Interceptions:

Hutchinson 6
Pudil 2

Most Dribbles:

Joao 2
Lee 2

Key Passes:

Bannan 5
Lee 2

Passing Accuracy:

Lopez 92%
Matias 88%
Bannan 87%
Lee 84%
Forestieri 83%
Hunt 75%
Hutchinson 74%
Lees 71%
Turner 69%
Sougou 63%
Joao 60%
Wildsmith 58%
Nuhiu 57%
Pudil 52%

Total Touches:

Bannan 66
Hutchinson 63
Lee 51
Forestieri 50
Wildsmith 45
Lees 41
Hunt 37
Turner 36
Nuhiu 36
Pudil 31
Matias 27
Joao 16
Lopez 14
Sougou 8

As on Saturday, Bannan & Hutchinson (closely followed by Lee) were our most influential players. Let's hope we can build on Saturday without the suspended Hutchinson.

[Owlkev71]

On the commentary they were impressed by Bannan, Lee and Forestieri.

Not quite sure what to make of Matias, I've seen him twice live and doesn't seem to get involved enough, be interesting to see if he plays on saturday v Fulham or if he goes back to Wallace.

[Imre varadi]

Has DC sacked this useless xxxx coach yet ? ffs missed nothing and i will be missing nothing on saturday aswell cos im not going out off my way to change my day around these wankers !!!