Bolton ever so slightly edged a little further away from the bottom three last night after coming from behind to draw at Reading.
It was a night of the exes – one-time Wanderers trialist had put Reading in front, before Adam Le Fondre, returning to the Madejski Stadium, netted just before half-time.
Having played fairly well and had a few chances of our own, it was pretty disappointing when Barrow managed to use his pace to get down the left and finish at the near post. But if last time on the road at Norwich, we failed to muster a shot on target, that wasn`t the case last night, we had chances to win, and even later in the game, when we`d usually get deeper and be happy to hang on, we were looking like we could win the game, Andy Taylor nearly doing so, before then clearing off the line at the other end in the dying embers to preserve the point.
It was quite a scrappy affair on the whole however, which suited us, despite Reading and Jaap Stam`s designs about playing pretty football, they were perhaps one of the only teams this season that failed to dominate us in terms of possession on their own turf – the attendance of around 8,000 may also shine a light to what the Reading fanbase largely think about their team at the moment. Our midfield was improved with the change in shape. While I rarely think Karl Henry impresses me when he plays, obviously him being there seems to balance and improve the centre of the park, and he did play well last night. Jem Karacan was also much better than at the weekend once he came off the bench.
With results at the bottom once again going our way, we`re now five points clear (although some teams have a game in hand to be played next Tuesday). Those results included a home defeat for Sheffield Wednesday, meaning if we completed a hat-trick of wins over the Owls on Saturday, we`d go above them.