Bolton got back to winning ways yesterday with a commanding 3-0 win at Gillingham.
It was a game that wasn’t necessarily going to be straightforward, but Wanderers emphatically answered two questions – could they win without Gethin Jones, and could they win away to a team that would try and physically intimidate them.
Will Aimson was the one to come in for Jones, and while Adam Senior might have been a more natural fit on the right hand side of that back three, Aimson was comfortable there, as he often has been when called to play anywhere along that line. Marlon Fossey and MJ Williams has a bit of zip back in them after some recent sluggish performances, and we could have had more than the three goals we did get.
Aaron Morley’s strike got him off the mark for the club, and us off the mark for the afternoon with a wonderful first-time effort from range after about half an hour. Declan John doubled the lead after the break, before Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s strong all-round performance was rewarded with the third goal. Amadou Bakay0ko came off the bench to put one in the back of the net, but that was disallowed, while Dion Charles and Fossey both missed big chances.
Results elsewhere really didn’t go our way, with the exception of Sheffield Wednesday’s defeat. The next few days will be really interesting. Tuesday sees us, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Plymouth Argyle and Sunderland all play teams on paper we should beat. You could throw MK Dons into this, but frankly they’re too far ahead of us to contemplate catching. Then next Saturday, you have our game against Argyle, while Ipswich and Portsmouth play each other, while Wycombe have a tough home game against Rotherham. We’ll know more about our play-off chances then.