Bolton moved into positive points (for now, thanks EFL) as Daryl Murphy made amends for having a late penalty saved with an even later winning goal – securing a 1-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons.
It felt like one of those days where we would have been left frustrated with a point against a side who had to thank their goalkeeper Lee Nicholls for. It was a tale of two keepers in some ways – Remi Matthews made two vital saves himself, ever so slightly getting enough on Joe Mason’s shot to ensure it went out off the post in the first half, then another save after we went 1-0 up. In the other goal, Nicholls made an umber of saves, one from a Luke Murphy effort, then of course the penalty save, and it looks as though he would be the villain after seeming prepared to be injured for the whole of stoppage time.
Josh Earl played well at the back for us after replacing Yoan Zouma in the lineup. Luke Murphy was superb, with his chance and the run up the byline to set up his namesake’s tap-in to win the game. Maybe we needed some more creativity from midfield earlier in the game – once Verlinden came on that improved, giving the full backs more to think about, enough to get George Williams a deserved red card when he put his hand in his face. Had Nicholls not been in goal though, we would have probably been ahead sooner.
Now we wait for the EFL to dock us some more points…