A bunch of kids few will have heard of represented Bolton Wanderers as they lost their opening pre-season friendly to York City by a goal to nil.
Although in theory our senior players could have featured, none did. Amongst the 23-man (or boy) squad, the only senior involvement was literally in name-only, with Adam Senior named on the bench. Connor Hall and Ronan Darcy were the only players who had played for the first team in an official game, while Dennis Politic and Yoann Zouma were two of the more familiar names. Phil Parkinson was in the stands, leaving Nicky Spooner and Julian Darby to it, so maybe this was a calculated thing to play the kids.
In the end, one mistake seemed to be the difference between the two sides, with Kempster scoring the only goal of the game, capitalising on an interception.
Half time at Bootham Crescent and it's 1-0 to York City. Young team haven't disgraced themselves at all – Zouma and Brown showing up particularly well. But there's a huge physical difference between the two sides and it's showing at times. #bwfc
— Marc Iles (@MarcIles) July 14, 2019
Dennis Politic sounded as though he was confident, trying a lob from distance and having a chance from a set-piece. You would expect, and hope, that the team in 20 days time against Wycombe is stronger and has a bit more experience in it…
Bolton starting lineup – all except Boon and Zouma came off at half-time: Matt Alexander, Nathan Whalley, Joe White, Yoann Zouma, Jordan Boon, Sonny Graham, Dennis Politic, Marcus Wood, Connor Hall, Eddie Brown, Ronan Darcy
Subs: Nathan McGuire, Luke Hutchinson, Ryan Cowin, Adam Senior, Myles Edmondson, Kwame Osigwe, Marcus Assarson, Regan Riley, Callum King-Harmes, Finlay Lockett, Demarlio Sterling, D’Neal Richards