It Just Gets Better

Safe to assume that everyone did indeed enjoy that one. Best team performance making it the best start to a season since we can’t remember when. Against a team which too often over recent years has given us a footballing lesson we conceded the bulk of possession but defended superbly, won the individual battles where it mattered, resulting in their forward players looking frustrated and/or getting subbed, and through the game had the better chances and made use of most of them. And it was so encouraging to see defenders, and those in front of them, taking pride and considerable delight in not just another clean sheet but in protecting Mannion to the extent that he had just a few routine efforts to deal with.

The plaudits can be spread through the team: Mannion may have had very little to do but he again made no mistakes; Small started the game with a poor pass and especially in the second half struggled to get past his opposite number but was otherwise excellent; Ramsay had a fabulous game at both ends of the pitch; Mitchell, Jones and Gillesphey kept their shape and discipline and defended heroically; Coventry made some really excellent tackles and set the team up well moving forward, he was my man of the match; Docherty and Berry harried and chased and for the second consecutive game contributed a goal; Ahadme worked tirelessly as did Campbell without much to feed off; and Aneke and Godden made a difference when they were introduced and combined for our second goal (Anderson did come on but rather late for an assessment).

So to keep our feet on the ground what are the qualifications? For one we scored at very opportune times: first to take the lead after just 10 minutes in a game of few chances, which meant again we were not left chasing the game, then just as we were preparing for a sweaty final period during which Bolton would presumably throw everything at us in desperation. We have so far this season not had to come from behind, or have to break down a massed defence.

Second, and I’m not sure if this is a weakness or a reflection of how well things are going, Jones must have been facing tough decisions over late substitutions. Replacing the front two seems de rigueur, especially given Aneke, but with Ness having left (with all our good wishes) and Fraser and Taylor not being considered, we have a shortage of options. Edmonds-Green came back into the squad as Small started in place of Edwards, but the only other centre-back is now Mitchell(Z), unless Potts now signs. Anderson was the only midfield sub available. We will have to assess that situation when the transfer window has shut.

Third, the forward combination you still can’t say is working as well as we would like. Ahadme and Campbell both worked hard, against tough defenders (albeit ones who gave the ball away to good effect for us). But neither enjoyed a sniff at goal and signs of them combining were few and far between. Godden when he came on gave an object lesson to Campbell in terms of how to look to feed off a bigger partner and how to make the space for yourself in anticipation of an opening.

Bolton manager manager Ian Evatt gave a generally fair assessment of the game, albeit understandably focusing on his teams shortcomings rather than our performance, but did say “we’ve gifted them two goals” and “they’ve had two opportunities and scored two”. Both our goals did indeed come from Bolton losing/giving away possession coming out of defence, but before we scored Small had played a similarly misplaced pass which put us at risk. The difference is that Bolton failed to turn the opening into a clear chance, as we covered the danger well, whereas when Small was presented with the ball he played a quick and decisive pass inside to Docherty and he was not closed down quickly enough, having the time to set himself before hitting a powerful shot into the net. The Bolton ball out was an error for sure, but there remained much to do to turn it into a goal. We did that and they could not.

For our second goal, Evatt may concentrate on them giving the ball away again coming out of defence, but that ignores what Godden did to score. When they were moving out he was being marked; as soon as we took the ball off them he moved away from his marker, who was caught ball-watching. So when Aneke received the ball on the right side he only had to put it into the area where Godden had moved into, which he did superbly. Godden stooped to head home well, but the goal came from him being alert to a potential situation. Again, the goal began with a mistake but was the result of good forward play.

And for the record, we had three chances and scored two. Aneke headed over when unmarked from a corner on 75 minutes. He really should have scored. And that made it three more good chances than Bolton created, even though the stats show that they had 13 attempts on goal to our six.

No doubt Reading away will present a different sort of challenge. They’ve had a mixed start to the campaign (won one, lost one, drawn one), obviously still have issues off the field which are limiting their ability to strengthen, but will be at home and in this division nothing comes easy. What Jones seems to have done is impress on the players just how hard you need to work to succeed, and with these efforts paying off it has a self-reinforcing effect. There will be setbacks along the way for sure, injuries and suspensions may change the picture, one day we will concede a goal. But for now we can think about other matters. Palace and Millwall in the relegation zone, dare we think about the perfect season?