Brighton & Hove Albion v Bolton Wanderers – Another Nail in the Coffin.
Article by Alan HoughtonClick here to follow e-Bolton Wanderers on Twitter!
It was a 7:30 start in the gathering gloom at the Macron for the longest trip of the season. A full English breakfast at Warwick services lifted our spirits in the company of thousands of Castleford Tigers fans on their way to the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley against Leeds Rhinos. Someone in Castleford must have nade a fortune from selling Tiger onesies. Despite the joys of the M25 on a bank holiday and an Audi A4 driver tuck in second gear on the A23, we arrived at the Amex stadium in good time to a nice welcome from bar staff dressed in BWFC T-shirts and leaflets, thanking us for making the 546 miles round trip to enjoy the game and have a safe trip home. Unfortunately Brighton need to work on the quality of their overpriced beer as £7.50 for a pie and a pint hardly constitutes a bargain. The Guinness drinkers were claiming it was the worst black stuff they had ever had while the Harvey bitter drinkers were leaving their pints unfinished.
This was a mixed performance with both teams enjoying periods of dominance. We weathered the early storm with Brighton adopting a shoot on sight policy. and then got on top. Chung Yong Lee went close and it was no surprise when Matt Mills headed us in front. However, these days our defence find it difficult to hold their breath, never mind a lead. Adam Bogdan pulled off a magnificent save from Craig Mackail-Smith before the same player slid in and duly equalised for Brighton just before half-time. In the process, we lost Adam Bogdan with a head injury, as he collided with Hadyn White. There was just time for Andy Lonergan to show the two extremes of his play by flapping hopelessly at one cross and then making a brilliant save soon after.
We started the second half well with chances for Craig Davies, Neil Danns and Chung Yong Lee, all wasted by bad finishing. Then after 64 minutes Joao Teixeira scored against the run of play. He managed to turn two Bolton defenders and squeeze the ball past Andy Lonergan. The whole Bolton defence should have done better with that one. Then we ran out of ideas. We sadly lack anyone who can direct and dictate play on the pitch. Heads went down on and off the field as the feeling of Déjà vu grow. The two Liams, Feeney and Trotter came on for Neil Danns and Medo Kamara and had minimal effect. Too many players did not want the ball and nobody wanted to go at Brighton. We cannot afford another bad start and yet we are having one. The only bright spark was the performance of young Hadyn White, particularly in the first half. His collision with Adam Bogdan may have been weighting heavily on him in the second half. Craig Davies put in a decent shift but there is nowhere near enough cohesion in this team. A lot of effort is wasted as the team seems to make it up as they go along. Too many times we win the ball back and then the person in possession is searching for someone to pass to.
The stats do not lie. This is the fourth time we have been in front this season and not held the lead. The possession figures were actually an improvement but it was still only 42-58%. It was 9-26 on the shots with 1-11 on target. I accept that Dougie Freedman rarely blasts his players in public but I would hope that behind the scenes he can get the message across that the current levels of performance are unacceptable. Very few players are playing to form and most are a poor shadow of what they can be. Dougie Freedman is appealing for calm and insisting that he is the man to take us forward. He needs to start showing that very soon as he is losing more of whatever support he has left with every performance, as this was another nail in the coffin.
On the return journey, we met up with the Castleford fans again and shared our commiserations for the day, as they had lost too. The only difference was that the Castleford fans were proud of what their club has achieved over the past year.
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Thanks for that it's refreshing to get a straightforward report from a fan that isn't full of "boo boo boo boo i'm a wanker boooo" what I mean is fickle supporters spouting idiocy and crap that you get on most blogs. The one who's getting it now is the darling of two seasons ago, the bulldog of midfield, who every supporter wanted signing up. The idiots were calling for Dougie's head if he didn't get him. Of course it was Jay Spearing and of course now "he's not good enough and he has no passion" and "he couldn't lead himself out of his garden gate never mind a football team to victory" and all that bullshit. See what I mean about fickle!?
ReplyDeleteA few bad performances in a team performing bad doesn't make Spearing crap all of a sudden but i do think we need a new leader on the pitch! It was no coincidence that when SKD got older and not as good we went down he kept us up for years!