Bolton lost on the road yet again last night as they were defeated 2-1 by Doncaster Rovers.
We never really seemed to be in the game until a hilarious mistake was taken full advantage of by Joe Dodoo. The balance of the match completely changed after that but ultimately our troubles on the road continue. Bar a solitary win and a solitary draw, we have lost every league away game this season, which simply isn’t good enough.
There were a couple of changes to the lineup, with Dodoo coming in for Dennis Politic, who was due to be on the bench, but ultimately failed be well enough to make it, leaving us with six subs. Jack Hobbs returned to the side for the injured Toto Nsiala. We struggled defensively for most of the night, Remi Matthews had to make a few saves, and while Brandon Fleming did well enough going forward, defensively we were getting done down that left side throughout the half.
The opening goal would come through the middle though, the defence all at sea and easily pulled apart as Fejiri Okenabirhie almost walked the ball in. It’s not even right to say it was individual errors, it just seemed a structural failure of the defence.
There would be goals pretty much either side of half time, Niall Ennis heading home a good James Coppinger cross at the back post. From there it looked like another long night, with the highlight being the number of songs aimed the Doncaster moaners. We were handed a lifeline though, a big mix-up at the back from goalkeeper Sery Dieng allowed Joe Dodoo to tap in from an angle. That gave us a boost and I don’t think you can criticise the effort, from there Donny were flaky, but ultimately we were unable to create anything of real quality to get that leveller.
Disappointingly, Jack Hobbs and Kean Bryan both came off because of injury – more so Hobbs, who had made his first after a long layoff. He’s a good defender and we have missed him, but it’s never going to be much help if he’s never on the pitch.