Bolton finally won a match yesterday with a much-needed, slightly surprising but ultimately very welcome 2-0 victory over Ipswich.
It was slightly unusual really given the way a lot of our matches have gone this season. Much less of the ball, and few opportunities for us to score. But we dug in during the periods it got tough, the new signings all played well, and for both goals we got a slice of luck, with Christian Walton pushing out the ball to give Kieran Lee a tap-in for the first goal, while Dapo Afolayan pounced on a loose George Edmundson backpass to double the lead. It’s usually us giving those sort of goals away. Afolayan’s benching was one of the bigger lines on the team news, with Ian Evatt opting to go for a nominal front three of Marlon Fossey, Dion Charles and Amadou Bakayoko, although the system looked a lot more fluid than that,
In any case, everything worked out well, with Afolayan reacting well with his goal James Trafford also went straight into the team, and any worries about how he will fare, mine included, will have been eased by his performance. Early on there were a few heart in mouth moments, but as the afternoon went on he looked composed and commanding and came up with the saves when needed. Aaron Morley looked tidy, while we got a lot more of the Gethin Jones and Marlon Fossey combination on the right which looked promising on Tuesday but we got much more of it yesterday. Jones’ return might be as important as any signing we make this month.
All in all, digging in for the win was the most satisfying part, and what is now a five point gap over the bottom four makes things look a little bit better. Hopefully we can follow that up with a breaking of the away win duck at Shrewsbury next week, and things will be on the up.