Bolton ended a tough week on a slightly positive note after coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Gillingham.
Early goals from John Akinde and Kyle Dempsey ensured there were a lot of questions and talking points regarding Wanderers, but a late, late show, with Dapo Afolayan initially pulling one back, before Kieran Lee went from assistor to goal scorer, meant we came away with a draw.
The build-up to this match had been overshadowed by Antoni Sarcevic’s departure yesterday, and whatever circumstances were behind it. If you were at the UniBol today, you probably heard your own rumour. One of them may even end up true. At 2-0 down, one question it was raising whether there was some sort of lack of fight in the dressing room. The fight back to 2-2 would suggest that is in fact utter rubbish,
Some may say it’s a confidence thing – a team not really used to losing over the last few seasons has hit a bit of a wall and it has shown, but even last season we had wobbles. It’s a far more technical thing for me – at this moment in time, we’re simply struggling to defend. Again, we conceded not one, but two early goals. The first goal, coming from a cross, felt like so many goals we’ve conceded of late. When we’re doing that so early on, we may as well be playing with a handicap. But all over the park, we were second best in the first half.
The fight, the pride though, seemed to kick in after the break, where we did kick on. Dapo Afolayan at times took on a central role, and it wasn’t always working, but out of nowhere gave us hope late on, he’s already on eight goals for the season. Kieran Lee, who is going to be very important in the coming weeks to fill the Sarcevic-shaped hole, then prodded in an equaliser in stoppage time. In a week where a loss would have just topped things off, coming back to get a point isn’t amazing, but it’ll do. While we weren’t in a rot as such, it stops whatever you want to call it. We’ve broken the losing streak and scored some goals. It’s better than nothing.