Player ratings following our first win of the season
Ben Amos– 7
Amos was his usual vocal self and commanded his back line well bar two miscommunications with Prince. He did flap dangerously at a cross but pulled off some brilliant stops and his distribution was good.
Lawrie Wilson– 7
I get the impression with Wilson that he`s playing at his limits. He`s doing well enough for now, but I get the impression that he`s not quite at the same technical level as everyone else on the pitch. However, as I say he`s good enough against decent Championship opposition and looked comfortable for the most part.
Prince-Désir Gouano– 6.5
A few shaky moments coupled with crucial last ditch challenges, this was a typical Prince game. While he`s entertaining and very talented, he may find his first team place under threat with the return of Wheater and Dervite should he not cut the errors out of his game.
Derik Osede– 7
I was excited to finally see how Derik would do in the league and while he wasn`t brilliant in the air, he was solid defensively and his ability to pass the ball from the ball really is a breath of fresh air- I reckon he`s the best ball playing defender we`ve had since Cahill.
Dean Moxey– 7
Another very solid performance from Moxey who was constantly in the right place at the right time and was handy going forwards? until the last few minutes where Wolves pushed and Moxey was caught out of position. Nevertheless, a good game from this season`s most improved player so far.
Neil Danns– 7
I thought Danns was quite good. He did a bit of his usual “let`s do random flip-flaps and try to out-smart their midfield” but he was generally tidy in position and cut out opposition play nicely. Glad to hear his injury isn`t serious.
Mark Davies– 9
What a good player he is. I`m so glad he`s fit and long may he stay fit! He was simply faultless on the ball and glided past players with ease. He made several chances for his team mates and was also unlucky not get on the scoresheet himself. It`s also worth mentioning that he fulfils his defensive duties.
Liam Feeney– 6.5
He worked as hard as ever but it just frustrates me that he tries to do too much. (See Silva too). The reason Bolton fans took to him when he joined on loan back in 2013 was because of the simplicity of his game- he took the ball down the line and put crosses into the box. That`s it. I don`t want to see Feeney try to be tricky and cut inside because he quite simply isn`t that type of player. Good finish for his goal though.
Wellington Silva – 7
The difference with Silva is that he does have the ability to pull of skill. However, while Feeney`s game is more simple with skill added, I feel that Silva`s is purely based on his step overs and pirouettes. Don`t get me wrong, it`s great to have a player with that ability but there are times where I wish he`d take three fewer touches and just centre the ball for the likes of Zach Clough. He caused real problems at times, but his corner antics meant that I could give him more than a 7.
Zach Clough– 7
While he didn`t set the world on fire, I thought Clough had a good game. We shouldn`t have to rely on him to score every game and run through the other teams all the time. He doesn`t need that sort of pressure. He played some nice passes, took some nice corners and was assured with his penalty. Solid.
Gary Madine– 5
I really do feel that he`s lost his way, and this game more than any I feel that he hesitated at times when the ball was played towards him. While he had a few hard chances, he did have a real sitter when Mark Davies pulled the ball back to him. His attempt said everything about his confidence- he had to get over the ball and stroke it home and instead he tentatively side footed the ball. As a result it went sailing over. There`s a good player here. He just needs confidence and had we more striking options I`d send him on loan to League 1 for three months.
Subs:
Josh Vela– 7
I approve of Lennon not over-using Vela- as I said with Clough, these players do not need the weight on their shoulders of tens of thousands of fans expecting them to carry Bolton through the season. He came on and used the ball very well. We could see him in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
Emile Heskey– 7
Heskey gave Madine a lesson on how to head during his cameo, while also pulling off a hilarious bit of skill to control the ball and coming close when played through by Mark Davies. Typical Heskey.