Bolton are into the third round draw of the FA Cup, a stage you hope they will automatically be in next season, with a 3-2 win over Sheffield United at the Macron.
There was a weird atmosphere about the game, not only the lower gate than when the teams met in the league in August, but the moving around of fans just killed any sort of atmosphere.
It took Bolton a while to get going as well, and could have been ahead through David Wheater after what can only be described as pinball in the Sheffield United box. Still images showed at least 99% of the ball was over the line. Many Bolton fans would say goal. But if it was against us, would you feel hard done by?
I definitely couldn’t say all the ball was ahead of the line. A harder call for Lee Probert’s team in real time. I won’t knock him for that. In any case Gary Madine scored in the 44th minute, getting a much needed goal in a great overall performance.
Wanderers didn’t waste time in the second half, with Sammy Ameobi rocketing one into the top corner seconds into the second half to double the advantage.
While we went with our strongest lineup, United made changes, but they gave the Whites a game, with Paul Coutts scoring via a deflected effort to score the first away goal at the Macron in over a month.
Josh Vela then seemed to score the game after a great touch and finish set up by Zach Clough’s vision, just minutes after Clough played through Madine who could only shoot straight at Aaron Ramsdale.
Jack McConnell scored late on to keep it interesting for the neutral but Bolton held on. Despite their lack of ball they were more effective in creating chances. They were much more defensive weak than usual but it was against a strong side, changes or not.
Anyway, we’re ball 49 tomorrow, and for those players who travelled down to London tonight for even a Christmas night out, or some time off, enjoy it. Not that they read this.
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