Bolton made it two wins out of their last three home games, and jumped six places up the league table, with a 1-0 victory over Stevenage.
Wanderers got their business done early, when in the seventh minute of the match Declan John scored his first ever goal in English football, set up by Dapo Afolayan. Naturally, it was good to see two players making their first starts link up to score the goal. Afolayan was our best attacking threat on a day where the forward line didn’t really catch fire, particularly in the first half. He was all over the pitch in a good way in the first half, with the ball usually looked glued to his feet.
Defensively, we were solid. Jack Aitchison had the best chance for the visitors shortly after we went ahead, but not too of real quality after that. They had more chances than us over the 90 minutes, but we had more on target. The midfield duo of George Thomason, celebrating his new contract, and MJ Williams, were strong, but with a one goal lead deep into the second half Williams was sent off. We’ve seen this movie before, Trevor Kettle has picked up a habit of sending off Wanderers players over the years, and he had another one on his list here. Will we see two red cards rescinded in a week? I doubt it.
Also, the sending off and subsequent conceding of an equaliser against Morecambe on Tuesday will have been fresh in minds, but this time we saw things out. Ian Evatt sensibly withdrew Afolayan and shored things up with Andrew Tutte, and we made it through the last 10 minutes or so unscathed. Considering we’ve been weak in that department, it’s good we’ve kept a clean sheet.