Bolton are now winless in eight league games to start the season now as they fell to a fifth successive defeat this afternoon, going down 2-0 at Ipswich.
The first half was a solid performance. Phil Parkinson decided to reinforce the defence, going with a 5-4-1 which saw Craig Noone and Filipe Morais in the wide midfield positions. We played reasonably well and made some chances, and certainly matched an Ipswich team who have had some luck this season. Gary Madine and Craig Noone both had chances om target, but neither could beat Ipswich keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.
The hosts brought on a name which may sound familiar at half time, Bersant Celina, who even posted a photo of the Macron over the summer as he appeared to near a loan move from Manchester City, was instead playing against us for Mick McCarthy`s men.
Within minutes, the luck of the Tractor Boys, and what was also some of our bad luck, struck.
Cole Skuse, without a goal in 18 months, hit a shot from 25 yards. A deflection took it past Ben Alnwick, and all of a sudden we were in a familiar position – behind. From there, Ipswich improved, and while we brought on the reinforcements, with Adams Armstrong and Le Fondre, plus Aaron Wilbraham, we couldn`t find an equaliser, before David McGoldrick sealed our fate late on.
After Tuesday`s night we can sort of enjoy at West Ham, we now face a massive game already next weekend. Neither us nor Brentford have won a game, and with four points separating us from safety, we`re at risk of drifting away from everyone else.
A few questions have already been asked of Phil Parkinson. It`s too early, in my opinion, to be asking those questions. While he has made some odd decisions, such as dropping the promising Reece Burke last week, and playing Filipe Morais seemingly all over the shop, the fact is he doing a job with two hands tied between his back. This is one of the weaker squads in the division, and while there should have been a few more points on the board, it was never a surprise to anyone with a brain we would be in the lower echelons of this league.
Opinions could change, and in a month or two I could well want him gone, but we haven’t thrown money at him to spend, and I just don’t see the point in a change at this stage like Palace or Birmingham have done.
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