Following a long walk from Birmingham New Street to St Andrews, I entered the stadium with a sense of confidence not felt since our late surge up the table during Dougie’s first year in charge.
During the warmups, the players looked engaged and energetic. I saw Hall, Vela and Clayton among the squad. Fans were excited and the players acknowledged this- leading up to a good mood within the away support.
The team lined up thusly: Lonergan, McNaughton, Mills, Dervite, Moxey, Spearing, Danns, Lee, Pratley, Feeney, Beckford
To be honest, I was a little surprised to see this. I was expecting to see one or two changes from the Dougie Freedman era. Clayton had been backed to start, though alongside Vela and Hall, was an unused substitute.
We took the lead 20 minutes into the game when Matt Mills rose to nod in a Jay Spearing corner. Before that there had been a few half chances from both sides with Dorian Dervite coming very close to scoring similarly to Matt Mills.
The match opened up in the second half. Subsitute Craig Davies was brought down in the box by Darren Randolph who was sent off. Davies then stepped up against stand-in goalkeeper Lee Novak and blazed over the bar. All he had to do was hit the target and the match would’ve been over! Demarai Gray then saw a shot tipped onto the bar bar by a flying Lonergan.
Match Ratings:
Lonergan:7- Consistently solid all game and stepped up when called into action. Great save from Gray’s effort. However- distribution was uninspired, constantly aiming for Pratley.
McNaughton:7- A good game for the Cardiff loanee. He was resolute at the back and looked skilful going forwards.
Mills:8- Great header for his goal and put his body on the line with some terrific blocks. Also played some good passes.
Dervite:6- A decent outing for the Frenchman. He was unlucky not to score with his header. He put in some good blocks but occasionally caught flat-footed by Clayton Donaldson.
Moxey:7.5- Probably his best performance in a Bolton shirt. Moxey was very good at the back and was tidy on the ball. A performance he really needed to ease off the boo-boys.
Spearing:7.5- A true captain’s performance. He took every set play (very well) and got stuck in. He fought for his team again today and we need to see more of this from the former Liverpool man.
Danns:6.5- A quiet performances on his return to St Andrews, Danns played in a more defensive role. He was pretty tidy in possession, though I would’ve preferred to see him play in Pratley’s position and have Vela play where Danns did.
Feeney:7- Feeney worked hard down the left wing and played pretty well, although his crossing suffered from having to cut inside.
Pratley:5- Sure, he worked hard but let’s be honest. He’s not very good on the ball at all. He won a header or two but did nothing else. He can’t read play and it really annoys me.
Lee:8- Lee was very sharp again today. His quick feet caused problems for Birmingham and Lennon spoke about his pleasure in seeing the Korean’s return to form.
Beckford:6- He worked tirelessly, however his runs just seemed a bit off today. I’d have preferred to see Cravies start.
Ream:N/A- Didn’t do much right or wrong when he came on.
Cravies:6- Great persistence to win the penalty- terrible lack of composure when he took it.
So there you have it, a win! Leave your thoughts on the match below.
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