New era. Same rubbish. Dean Holdsworth and his band of merry men were in control, but in their first match it was the same old story. In fact it was probably worse, as Bolton fell to a fifth home league defeat of the season, throwing away a half time lead in a lical derby.
Wanderers actually played reasonably well in the first half. They had to ride their luck, with two early Preston chances going wide, but then Liam Trotter stroked home from a decent way out to give us the lead.
Preston fans, all 4,000 plus of them, were marking their Gentry Day, where they all wear bowler hats. It sounds like a silly idea, but they took them off on 33 minutes in respect of the Burnden victims, which was a lovely touch.
That was as generous as anyone with a Preston connection was good. PNE were excellent in the second half, while we were digustingly woeful.
Bolton’s defence was all over the shop as the away side levelled things. Adam Reach picked out Jordan Hugill. Hugill was a man we picked out ahead of the match, and duly he scored his first of the season against Bolton. I’m sorry.
If that was bad enough, Marnick Vermijl then popped up five minutes from time to score a winner from close range and put another nail in the Wanderers’ Championship coffin.
In any normal year, we’d be relegated before Easter, but Easter is far too early this year. In any case, we’re done.
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