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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Bolton 3 Birmingham 1


miamiwhite

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My 'official' verdict for a local blog....

 

 

Having consumed a few too many mince pies in the hope of raising spirits following Boxing Day’s display against Sheffield Wednesday; I must say that I wasn’t feeling too optimistic of claiming all the points against Birmingham on Saturday either. How wrong I was.

Changes needed to be made to the starting eleven after the Boxing Day Baloney and Dougie duly obliged – not the team I would have selected but who am I to question.

The return of the skipper was inevitable, his passion and old fashioned fight is exactly what is needed right now, but the inclusion of Darren Pratley generated many groans on the Reebok concourse.

Pratley has a point to prove, and that he did – arguably being the difference and the missing piece in Wanderers’ jigsaw in recent weeks. He put his body on the line, put his head in where it hurt and drove Bolton onto victory alongside a rejuvenated Tim Ream and Marcos Alonso – all contenders for Man of the match in my opinion.

When Zigic put Brum ahead, a sense of ‘here we go again’ spilled from my thoughts and boo’s echoed around in earshot as the guilty Zat Knight received treatment only yards away.

From then on, Pratley and Co were in total control – a performance I would describe as a cut above those witnessed in recent weeks but not the finished product by any means. Birmingham were bad, but take nothing away from the boys, who silenced the majority with a truly professional display.

January is going to be massive both on, but more so off the pitch to determine our season and my full trust is in Dougie. One thing for certain, he needs backing from above though – surely something spoken about before he switched from Crystal Palace.

Craig Dawson and Stephen Warnock would be a great start, coupled with the return of Stuart Holden and David Wheater, however I would love to see Joe Riley and goal machine Tom Eaves given a chance on the bigger stage.

All we ever seem to do is invest in promising youngsters, loan them out and then release them at a later stage. What’s the harm in Riley and Eaves getting a chance, especially when money is tight.

Being only 1 victory away from a respectable 9th position heading into the New Year isn’t all doom and gloom, and with some welcome additions to the squad on the horizon, it can only make us better.

Come on you Whites!!

 

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Certainly thought ream, mears, alonso and pratley had their best games for us today. Skd was very good as was chippy. Spearing was always available. Only negative for me was eagles, kept trying to do too much. However, they were poor, but can only beat what's in front of you. Leeds here we come.

 

Eagles is going through a dip in form but he has played well for most of the season so he's due a couple of bad games.

 

Somebody mentioned we need to be better at stopping crosses getting into the box. We do need to work on this but I thought it was a very good cross by Burke for their goal.

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Nah jazza, look again it was a second yellow maybe camera was too slow as ref couldn't wait to get the second yellow/red card combo out. Zigic had been whinging at him all match. First yellow was presumably for unsporting behaviour as he tried to kick the ball out of Bogdans hands on a goal kick.

 

Not too much hope for Leeds, its been beaten out of me. Noticed Becchio was sub for Leeds yesterday.

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happy overall with yesterday, responded well to going a goal behind and looked comfortable once we'd scored, most comfortable performance have seen under Freedman so all credit to the players after some dross of late

 

means nowt though unless we do what we've not done all season and follow up with another win as we're still in that no mans land between the play offs and botto three - a win at Leeds and things may not look so lost going into the new year

 

I had no idea, till I read this thread, that Paul Robinson was playing for them yesterday!

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happy overall with yesterday, responded well to going a goal behind and looked comfortable once we'd scored, most comfortable performance have seen under Freedman so all credit to the players after some dross of late

 

means nowt though unless we do what we've not done all season and follow up with another win as we're still in that no mans land between the play offs and botto three - a win at Leeds and things may not look so lost going into the new year

 

I had no idea, till I read this thread, that Paul Robinson was playing for them yesterday!

 

 

That's why they're going down

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I had no idea, till I read this thread, that Paul Robinson was playing for them yesterday!

 

Showing that he can play to the same standard on either side of the back line!

 

He was the last Brum player to leave the pitch as he acknowledged the home crowd as well as the away.

 

Brum fans on the train into Piccadilly were well content as Villa (in particular), WestBrom and Wolves all lost.

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