Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Town - Match Report Tuesday, 8th Mar 2016 22:23 Stephen Dobbie’s penalty seven minutes into injury time denied the Blues a third successive win as Bolton came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at the Macron Stadium. Kevin Bru put Town in front on 24, Christophe Berra added a second on 73 but Lawrie Wilson hit back within a minute, before Dobbie’s late penalty, awarded after Maitland-Niles had fouled his fellow Arsenal loanee Wellington Silva. Jonathan Douglas replaced Luke Hyam in central midfield in an otherwise unchanged Town side. Hyam dropped to the bench, while Cole Skuse (toe ligament) and Daryl Murphy (calf) weren't fit enough to return. Bolton included former Blue Liam Trotter and one-time Town trialist Wilson in their starting XI, while former England man Emile Heskey and Josh Vela missed out. Mick McCarthy’s men were in their orange third kit with the Trotters wearing a special dark blue strip to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Burnden Park Disaster in which 33 fans died. Prior to the players taking to the field the FA Cup final hymn Abide With Me was sung, then before kick-off there was a well-observed minute’s silence. The home side created the first opening in the third minute when Liam Feeney escaped down the left and cut the ball back for skipper Darren Pratley, but the midfielder, reportedly a Town target in January, sliced his effort high and wide when he should at least have hit the target. Wanderers continued to have the better of the opening spell and on six Mark Davies waltzed through the Town backline and into the area but failed to make significant contact on his shot and Bartosz Bialkowski saved down to his right. On 10 Zach Clough shot over from the edge of the box with the Blues still having made little impact on the game. Three minutes later, Clough claimed a penalty when he went to ground as he went past Kevin Foley. Referee Mark Haywood awarded a Bolton corner as the Town players protested that they ought to have had a freekick for a dive. Following the flag-kick, the ball fell to Feeney on the left but his shot flew across the face of goal and out for a throw. Town finally threatened in the 19th minute when Freddie Sears brought the ball inside 25 yards out and hit a shot which Bolton keeper Paul Rachubka could only parry. Derik Osede beat Brett Pitman to the loose ball but in any case the linesman had already raised his flag. Bolton had dominated the first 20 minutes but without having anything to show for it and in the 24th minute they were made to pay. Ben Pringle crossed from the left after a corner had been returned to him and the ball reached Berra at the far post, skipper Luke Chambers having flicked on. The Scot stabbed the ball back to Bru on the edge of the area and the Mauritius international smashed a superb strike which looped over Rachubka, hit the underside of the bar and nestled in the corner of the net. Having gone in front via Bru’s second goal of the season, his first since the opening day, the Blues started to play with greater confidence and on 28 Pitman shot not too far wide from distance. Trotter was unable to control a cross from the right and the ball bounced through to Bialkowski, then as the clock ticked round to 33 there was a spontaneous burst of applause in tribute to the fans who died in the Burnden Park Disaster. The home side should have equalised on 36 when Davies cut the ball back from the right but Trotter fluffed his effort at close range and Clough looped over the bar off a Town player. The Town goal was living a somewhat charmed life with the home side by now putting the Blues under great pressure with Berra, Douglas and others making important blocks, while Bolton players appealed for a number of penalties. On 38 Bialkowski made a superb double stop, first blocking Dean Moxey’s effort from distance with his foot before he somehow got up and managed to keep out Osede’s close-range rebound. Wanderers continued the pressure - with Pringle down injured having taken a blow to the foot - and Chambers made another important block from Feeney. Pringle was OK to carry on after treatment as was Bru after he suffered a knock on the touchline. Town saw out three minutes of injury time to retain their lead at the break. Bolton had started the half the stronger and might well have taken the lead through Pratley early on but despite continuing to dominate didn’t seriously threaten again before Bru’s excellent goal. Pitman went close with Town’s only other dangerous effort before a late onslaught with the Blues’ area like the Alamo at times with defenders making desperate blocks and Bialkowski making his brilliant double stop. Clough flicked Feeney’s 49th minute cross from the left over the bar with the second half starting somewhat less frenetically than the first had ended. Six minutes after the restart goalscorer Bru, evidently still feeling his first-half injury, was replaced by Luke Varney. Soon after, Berra blocked from Trotter in a promising position on the left of the box. The Blues were sitting into allow Bolton to bring the game to them, looking to catch them on the break. That pattern continued, on 64 Davies saw a shot blocked by a phalanx of Town defenders on the edge of their own box, then two minutes later Foley got in the way of a Clough strike on the left. On 67 a Sears break almost led to a second Town goal, the striker feeding Jonas Knudsen behind him on the left. The Dane crossed but a Bolton toe took it away from both Sears and Pitman and Rob Holding’s clever turn took him to safety. Gary Madine replaced Trotter for Wanderers, then Luke Hyam took over from Foley in the centre of the Town midfield. Pringle was then replaced by Maitland-Niles. Town were starting to spend more time in the Bolton half and in the 72nd minute, they doubled their lead. Varney won a freekick on the left and Maitland-Niles whipped over a freekick which flicked off Berra’s head and into the net, the Scotland international’s first goal since April last year at the far post. But Wanderers hit back just a minute later. Bialkowski punched away a cross from the left ahead of Clough and the ball fell to one-time Blues trialist Wilson, who lashed a powerful 30-yard half-volley into the empty net, the former Charlton man’s first goal since joining Bolton last summer. Clough headed Madine’s left-sided cross into Bialkowski’s arms on 78, then five minutes later Jay Spearing was fortunate to see only a yellow card for pushing Pitman in the face. Stephen Dobbie replaced Clough as Town prepared to take the freekick from which the Blues came very close to restoring their two-goal lead. Varney flicked the ball on Maitland-Niles’s ball into the box and Smith’s diving header at the far post flew just wide. Madine headed straight at Bialkowski from Dobbie’s left-sided cross with two minutes remaining. Bolton took the game to the Blues in the closing stages but the Town backline remained resolute. The fourth official’s board signalled six minutes, Madine having spent a lengthy spell down receiving treatment for a head wound earlier in the half. Wellington, who had only come on for Pratley seconds earlier, was booked for a rather obvious dive as he burst into the area on the left. Bialkowski was out quickly to block from Dobbie, then Feeney’s hooked shot was blocked through to the Blues keeper with desperate appeals from the home fans that the ball had struck a Town arm. Douglas made a brilliant sliding challenge on Madine, who looked to have been played through on goal and Town looked to have seen out the danger. But in the seventh minute of injury time, Wellington brushed off Maitland-Niles as the Blues' sub looked to see the ball out of place, cut into the area on the left and was tripped by the Town midfielder. Referee Haywood had already turned away numerous and largely very ambitious home penalty appeals but this time he pointed to the spot. Dobbie stepped up and slammed his spot-kick to Bialkowski’s right and into the net. There was no time for the Blues to hit back with the whistle going seconds later. Town had the game won at 2-0 but Wilson’s goal gave Wanderers an unexpected lifeline. Even then, the Blues seemed to have seen off the danger until the penalty which was somewhat needlessly conceded with Maitland-Niles having had a chance to clear before he was beaten by Wellington and fouled him. However, on the overall balance of the game Bolton deserved something from the match, having been much the better side before the break when they created plenty of opportunities. But that will matter little to manager Mick McCarthy, particularly as Town would have returned to the top six if they had held on with results elsewhere going in the Blues’ favour. As it is, Town travel to Cardiff on Saturday up to eighth still a point off the play-offs and a place and goal difference ahead of the Blues. Bolton: Rachubka, Moxey, Feeney, Spearing, Clough (Dobbie 84), Osede, Davies, Trotter (Madine 67), Pratley (c) (Wellington 90), Wilson, Holding. Unused: Campbell, Danns, Woolery, Finney. Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Foley (Hyam 69), Douglas, Pringle (Maitland-Niles 70), Bru (Varney 51), Sears, Pitman. Unused: Gerken, Digby, Touré. Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire). Att: 12,681 (Town: 503).
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