Bad Night

By most measures, including most obviously the result, that was disappointing. Another strange game in that Bolton were on top for most of it, especially the first half, and their front line bullied our defence throughout, but they had only our early gift to show for it, being unable to turn dominance into clear-cut chances. Had they gone 2-0 up it might have been a very difficult night. Instead, by dint of substitutions, a change in formation, and sheer (commendable) determination we did get more into the game in the second half and brought the scores level with a well-worked goal. At that point you even had hopes we might go on and win it; instead another set-piece goal coughed up and we lost.

In the Adkins era we were letting in two (or more) a game and the universal – and unarguable – chorus was we can’t expect to win many games on that basis. JJ began his era by tightening up at the back and stopping giving away soft goals. It seems the change is not permanent. We got away with letting in two on Saturday but not last night. And while we might welcome an emphasis on attack, games where we outgun the opposition and accept taking chances. But that’s not the same as conceding sloppy goals, which is now happening too often.

Famewo made a mistake last night and it cost us a goal. Fair enough, these things happen – and I think not enough credit is given to the Bolton forward, who read the situation, gambled, and got his reward. It was a high ball forward allowed to bounce. By the time it came down again Famewo was heading back towards his own goal and watching the ball. He was too far out to be able to head it back to MacGillivray so really tried nodding it on and getting to it first. The forward realised that Famewo was almost at a standstill waiting for it to drop and so ran into the space where the ball might go. By contrast with Famewo he was at full tilt and there was no chance for Famewo to get back to him – at least not without bringing him down and getting a red card.

Again, it was a one-off error. But as the ever astute Steve Brown noted, we don’t seem to react well to conceding goals. Bolton’s forwards realised that, with Inniss rested, they could bully our back line. After his mistake Famewo seemed decidedly unsure of himself, while the returning Pearce quite frankly put in the sort of display which led to him being dropped under Adkins; his form when he came back – at Sunderland when Lavelle was injured – has been excellent but last night was disappointing. He took a yellow for hauling down a guy who had given him the slip and after that Bolton targeted him to try to prompt a second card; and they nearly succeeded, resulting in JJ pulling him off around the hour mark. And to round things off, Bolton’s winner came curtesy of a totally unnecessary free-kick given away near the touchline by Clare. He too has been outstanding since being asked to play in a back three, but his challenge looked tired and gave them the opportunity to put us under pressure from another set piece. Yes, the ball in was excellent, requiring only a slight diversion from one of theirs to find its way into the net. They should not have been given that opportunity.

If all had worked well in front of the back line we might still have been OK. But last night it didn’t. We struggled to keep possession and in a very scrappy, error-strewn game to make much happen in their final third. Through the first half Bolton passed the ball and moved better than us. Our wing-backs were pressed back by their wing-backs, while without both Aneke and Stockley we were unable to get much joy out of long balls forward, despite Washington’s willing runs.

That’s not to say there were not moments when the game might have turned in our favour. The late and very poor challenge on Dobson after around 30 minutes could well have resulted in Bolton playing for an hour with 10 men (just as DJ’s one on Saturday could have been interpreted as a red, shortly before he played the sublime pass for our second goal). It is one of the absurdities of the game that at present such a dangerous tackle gets the same punishment as Washington and Gilbey received in quick succession for minor fouls on their keeper (the former having been sparked by their keeper going too far and getting a little reminder that he shouldn’t take the mickey). For the record, on that front I’m in favour of sin bins for 10 minutes.

The first half ended with us clearly frustrated, as reflected in the Washington and Gilbey bookings and a late, highly speculative attempt at a shot from distance by Morgan. But we did improve in the second half (we simply had to), with Bolton not forcing the pace in an attempt to put the game to bed. For that the team deserves some credit, although it was really only when we made changes – Aneke for Burstow, Lavelle for Pearce, shortly after Fraser for Gilbey – and switched formation – seemed to be a back four – that we gained the upper hand.

We had nearly drawn level before the changes, around the hour, when a corner was played beyond the far post, Clare played it back to around the penalty spot, and Gilbey met it with a fierce shot, one which was deflected over. But the leveller did come on 76 minutes. A Matthews long throw was headed out but back to him. He passed to Fraser and instead of a first-time cross he took it on closer to the by-line then delivered a decent ball in, which Aneke did very well to convert with a controlled but decisive header.

That goal did spark a response from Bolton, both in terms of personnel and desire. And with around 10 minutes left on the clock they drew the challenge from Clare and scored from the free-kick. Still effectively 15 minutes left for us to respond, and there was a near miss in stoppage time as Morgan hit a long ball into the box and Washington almost managed to bring it down and score, only for it to fall back to Fraser whose low shot was smartly saved. But that was it.

You only have to look on the BBC report’s comments to see the importance of the result. Bolton fans are talking of their excellent recent run being continued and pushing them towards a play-off spot, we are left to ponder what might have been. With hindsight, after three wins on the spin and with the decision to rest both Inniss and Aneke for a crucial game, the flat performance for the most part might have been predictable. We just don’t seem able to reproduce, consistently, the verve and energy which we saw in JJ’s early games – and while the stops are getting pulled out at The Valley the performance levels aren’t being maintained in away games.

So what does JJ do now? Might as well throw the kitchen sink at Wigan on Saturday, that has become improbably a game we have to win to keep any flicker alive. That golden spell of form was characterised by the team virtually picking itself, with the back line, central midfield three, and front two regularly unchanged. That hasn’t happened of late and for me if you have to give one reason for our decline in performance levels it is that. Players need to play together regularly to develop understanding. Most of the changes we have made have been imposed, by injury/need for rest or suspension, but in my view in too many games we have had changes to all areas of the pitch. And these changes have not resulted in better performances than we saw early in JJ’s tenure.

So it probably is the time for him to be thinking about just what is going to be the core of next season’s team, who will form the spine?