Bolton made it two wins from two in the EFL Trophy with an easy win over Liverpool’s youngsters.
Wanderers aren’t actually guaranteed a knockout spot just yet – Port Vale’s late win over Rochdale mean both sides could still overtake us on the final set of group games. However, that would require us to lose to Rochdale (that’s in 90 minutes, even a loss on penalties would still see us though), Port Vale to beat Liverpool’s U21 side and a suitable swing in goal difference. Plausible, but we should be alright from here.
Anyway, onto the match. In dreadful early autumn weather at the UniBol, Liverpool started brightly – as you’d expect from a team of technically good players who will have been influenced by Jurgen Klopp and co.’s methods. Nat Phillips was a surprise, but I suppose a nice inclusion in their XI, he blocked a shot which had it gone in would have capped a fine team move from us, all the better considering the team was changed up massively from Saturday’s win.
One of those who had a chance to take was Nathan Delfouneso and he did just that to his credit, heading in from about a yard to give us the lead. Amadou Bakayoko stepped up his recovery too, coming on as a half-time sub for Elias Kachunga scoring what would be our second and fourth goals, the latter of those from the spot. In between those strikes a clever backheel went in off Phillips’ central defensive partner Quansah, while Elijah Dixon-Bonner pulled one back after the one bit of poor defending we had all that. Overall, we had been solid, with Will Aimson very good on his debut, helped by the experienced Alex Baptiste.
The pleasing thing was how all those players came into the side and we kept largely the same rhythm. Job done, and hopefully we don’t fall victim to a freak set of results next month, because as maligned as this competition is, it would be good to have a right crack at it. Wembley anyone?