Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s late equaliser earnt Bolton a point at Wigan.
In front of a sell out away crowd, it looked to be a long painful afternoon if the early exchanges were anything to go by. James McClean scored early on after his ball in beat James Trafford, and we only registered a single shot in the first half. We were probably lucky to be only a goal down, but at the same time Wigan were lucky to not be down to ten men, because already on a yellow card, McClean then basically shoved over Dapo Afolayan in the corner. How Samuel Barrott couldn’t find his card there was a really poor call.
We were much better in the second half, the substitutes worked, with Bodvarsson, Amadou Bakayoko and Kyle Dempsey all coming off the bench. We were much more composed, created a few chances of our own, and in the final 10 minutes it was the big Icelander who managed to get his head on Will Aimson’s delivery and earn a share of the spoils.
Wigan are a good side, so a point away to them is a decent result and shows we’re on the right track, even if next season will almost be certainly another in League One. Also, it’s nice not to lose to them. It might keep them a bit quiet.
One sour note was the IRA chants for McClean. There’s no need for it, it’s appalling and we should be better than that, but the anti-Irish problem in the UK is far, far deeper than a few songs towards an opposition footballer and probably a piece about Wigan v Bolton isn’t the best place to write anything particularly nuanced.