Bolton’s play-off hopes too a blow after they were the ones to blink – drawing 1-1 at home to Morecambe.
Bolton were well on top in the early stages, and we should have probably had a couple of goals, with Dion Charles hitting the woodwork and then putting another one wide. Chances weren’t taken though, and when a bad backpass from George Johnston was intercepted, Cole Stockton was given a tap-in. Not wise to give it to one of the deadliest strikers in the division.
That was a sucker-punch, and for the rest of the night it felt as if we didn’t know how to respond to it. Morecambe were belligerent and quite frankly irritating, whether it was their players’ antics, their manager, staff or fans – just an easy club to loathe it seems. They did defend well though, we were unable to play through them and weren’t too bad against the cross either. Quite often we were trying switches for Declan John, but rarely did they actually find him. There were shots, but many were blocked, or just not on target. Where Aaron Morley was finding the top corner at the weekend, tonight he skewed one wide. Only four of the 25 shots would actually hit the target.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson came on for Amadou Bakayoko and deep into stoppage time we at least got an equaliser through the big Icelander. The gap somehow is still only seven points. With nine games to play and tonight’s results it does feel increasingly improbable to make the top six, if not yet impossible. Back to back wins against Plymouth Argyle and Crewe are a minimum. And that equaliser might hurt Morecambe come the end of the season in their quest to stay in the division.