Maddison Sees Red at Bolton
My, how Bolton Wanderers have lived up (should that be `down’?) to their name in recent times. How long ago was it that Sam Allardyce was in charge of a Premiership team, year-in, year-out? (Don’t write in – it was from 2000 until 2007 and they reached the giddy heights of sixth in the table at the end of the 2003-4 season.) In the fourteen years which have ensued, however, Bolton have been an example of how a football club should not be run – both on and off the field. Regular Boardroom battles have ensued as the club has run-up an eye-watering amount of debt and one relegation after another has followed as Bolton have literally wandered downwards through the EFL Divisions. This season, they have finally reached rock bottom as far as the EFL is concerned. Ex-Barrow boss Ian Evett has been chosen as the man to stop the Trotters falling any further from grace and also to change the fortunes of a club which this time last year faced the very real possibility of following neighbours Bury and disappearing as a football club altogether.
This fixture was rescheduled from last December because of an outbreak of Coronavirus at the visiting club. Bolton started the game on the back of two losses and a single win in their last five league outings. They were unable to play last Saturday because hosts Salford’s pitch was waterlogged. The previous week, they had ended a sequence of six games without a win by beating Leyton Orient at the University of Bolton Stadium two goals to nil. They have also been busy in the transfer window, signing no less than eight players on-loan or permanently in the shape of Oladapo Afolayan, Zack Elbouzedi, Ben Jackson, Declan John, Lukas Jensen, Keiran Lee, Marcus Maddison and MJ Williams. Some of these featured in the starting line-up tonight. Morecambe, on the other hand, have lost one player and only signed one replacement during the same period. But be careful what you wish for, though: quality is worth a lot more than quantity. Tonight’s match saw the appearance of possibly Morecambe’s worst-ever signing on the Bolton bench in the shape of Andrew Tutte, whose attitude off the field was apparently even more appalling than his hopeless and tetchy displays invariably were for the Shrimps on it.
The Bolton boss’ thoughts about the club’s first-ever competitive meeting with Morecambe were succinct:
“I think they’re a good team. They’re well-coached and they’re well organised. We have to give them respect.” As far as Saturday’s postponement at Salford was concerned, he said: “It does give us a bit more prep for Tuesday night – absolutely. We can have a good look at the lads on the training pitch today and get some more minutes into the new lads’ legs. We can work on our patterns of plays so the lads can get used to us a bit more. It’s an advantage in that way, but as I said the games are piling up thick and fast and it’s not ideal. The new lads had had two days training, so this obviously gives as an added advantage in terms of being able to spend more time with them, working on the training ground to make sure they know exactly what I expect and make sure there are no grey areas. For too long this season we haven’t performed well enough at home and the results haven’t been good but that’s starting to change now. Obviously, the incomings have made a difference to the quality of the squad and the team so hopefully we can put some consistent performances together for the rest of the season.”
Andrew Tutte’s ex-teammates arrived in Bolton a whole thirteen positions higher in League Two than their hosts: they were seventh in the table. Morecambe had a better recent record than the Trotters as well: two wins and two draws in their last five League Two games.
It was dry in Bolton as the match kicked-off in the almost eerily echo-y stadium. Two minutes had been played when Aaron Wildig’s cross was deflected away from Cole Stockton by the Trotters’ defence as the visitors created the first chance of the game. Five minutes later, Morecambe’s Number Twenty was lucky to get away with a badly mistimed tackle where he went straight over the ball. But the Bolton player on the end of it didn’t make a meal of it to be fair to him and Referee Oliver Langford didn’t even book him. With twelve minutes on the clock, Nathaniel KP made a great tackle in the Bolton area and then walloped a long-range shot way over the bar. Two minutes later, Cole’s shot was completely mishandled by Matt Gilks in the Wanderers’ goal. He let it bounce away completely from his body and out of reach but he got away with it on this occasion. Wildig then did well to anticipate and then intercept a pass before slipping the ball to Stockton to his right only for the centre forward to return the favour with an instant back-heel which, sadly, was not quite what was needed to give Aaron a clear run on goal. Carlos Mendes-Gomes fashioned the next chance for himself, shooting from the left flank and seeing his shot spin wickedly towards the target around the goalkeeper – but not close enough. The home side had a chance as well after 34 minutes when a long ball found Lloyd Isgrove on the right and his excellent pass reached Eoin Doyle, whose instant shot was straight at Kyle Letheren. At the other end, Wildig then passed the ball to Carlos whose back-heel in response was too quick and not accurate enough. Almost forty minutes had been played when Stockton made a complete mess of a header on the Morecambe right, seeing the ball arc off his head harmlessly high and wide onto the empty terraces. Bolton attacked again down their left and the ball was carried out of his own half by Nathan Delfouneso onto the Bolton right flank from where he found Doyle in the centre of the pitch and this time, the Irishman made no mistake with a decisive shot. One-nil to the Trotters with just three minutes left to play. Good work by Cole on the Morecambe right saw Toumani Diagouraga muscled out of it as he attempted to connect with the ball as it flashed across the goal-line but Morecambe went in at half-time in arrears. It was disappointing given their early dominance and the fact that Bolton played like the bunch of strangers more often than not which – to be fair to them – they more or less were. Having said that, Doyle’s goal was a poor one to concede.
The home team noticeably upped the pace in the second period. But the Shrimps had the first chance after three minutes – Gilks managed to grab the ball high in the air as Stockton’s shot was blocked and headed skywards. There was not a lot of constructive play early on but Doyle’s tame header when well placed after 50 minutes was easily saved by the visiting goalkeeper. Good approach play by the Trotters after 58 minutes resulted in a fine save by Letheren. At the other end, Sam Lavelle was unlucky not to equalise when he headed a free-kick against the underside of Gilks’ bar with the goalkeeper nowhere near it after 63 minutes. Two minutes later, the visiting goalkeeper did brilliantly to keep out a shot from substitute Marcus Maddison with his feet. Seventy minutes had been played when `Toums’ did well to win the ball but his pass to an onrushing Carlos in the Wanderers’ penalty area was slightly over-hit. Three minutes later, John O’Sullivan seemed to get his feet in a tangle when he failed to connect with a low ball which had been slung across the Bolton penalty area. Then another substitute – Declan John – shot over the bar for the Trotters when well placed with seventy-seven minutes on the clock. A minute later, Cole wasted a golden opportunity when he weakly sent Aaron’s excellent cross from the right wide of the target. But the game changed in the eightieth minute when Wildig – arguably lucky still to be on the field – received an even more forceful bad tackle from Maddison than his own earlier for which the Bolton man was rightly given a straight red card. Derek Adams took this as the cue to make wholesale changes. One of them involved Brad Lyons and his first contribution to the game was to head home the equaliser from a corner kick with eight minutes left. It was Backs To The Wall for the home team after that. The Shrimps won a succession of corners as Wanderers increasingly desperately hung-on. It all became a bit frantic at times from both teams but the game finally ended one goal each.
Despite only drawing, Morecambe went back up to sixth place in League Two tonight. They played well at times this evening but you were left wondering where the goals were going to come from as the match grew ever older. Maybe Brad Lyons has the answer. Let’s hope so. Bolton may have lost a man tonight but at the end of the game, they had gained a position in the table: they were nineteenth at the finish of play.
Bolton Wanderers: 13 Matt Gilks; 4 MJ Williams (Y); 5 Ricardo Almeida Santos; 7 Nathan Delfouneso (31 Zack Elbouzedi 77’); 9 Eoin Doyle (C); 21 Harry Brockbank (2 Gethin Jones 60’); 23 Lloyd Isgrove (30 Oladapo Afolayan 60’); 24 Arthur Gnahoua (14 Marcus Maddison 60’ (R); 25 George Thomason; 27 Alex Baptiste; 32 Ben Jackson (28 Declan John 68’).
Subs not used: 8 Brandon Comley; 18 Andrew Tutte.
Morecambe: 1 Kyle Letheren; 2 Kelvin Mellor (21 Ryan Cooney 82’); 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton (7 Jordan Slew 82’); 10 Aaron Wildig (15 Brad Lyons 82’); 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 16 John O’Sullivan; 20 Alex Denny (19 Liam McAlinden 75’); 22 Liam Gibson (3 Stephen Hendrie 82’).
Subs not used: 12 Mark Halstead; 6 Harry Davis.
Ref: Oliver Langford.
