Wolverhampton Wanderers v Bolton Wanderers – False Dawn

Article by Alan Houghton

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Bolton Wanderers’ first win and in particular the last thirty minutes on Tuesday night against Rotherham united, had given Wanderers’ fans renewed hope that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. It had probably saved Dougie Freedman’s job as well. It must have given the management, team and fans a much needed boost in confidence and morale. Could we build on this at Molyneux against one of our greatest rivals?

After battling the worsening M6 roadworks, we arrived at the Four Ashes for a plate of Hunter’s chicken, washed down with some excellent Czech beer. Then it was a short drive and a long hike to Molyneux as the car parks are quite a way from the ground. Mind you, it’s saved me having to go to the gym this week.

Visiting fans have now got decent seats at Ground Level in the Steve Bull stand, opposite where the teams come out. There was no mountain of steps to climb like last time. There was an air of confidence amongst the fans that we could build on the second half performance against Rotherham. A few bars of ‘There’s only one John McGinlay’ and we were ready to resume our rivalry with Wolves. The Wolves’ fans responded with their hero, Steve Bull, bringing back fond memories of some titanic struggles in the 1990s and two great crowd pleasing players.

It was like being at Leeds all over again. We dominated a match between two poor teams, missed numerous chances and lost to a scrappy goal that should have been prevented. Both Andy Lonergan and Dorian Dervite left the ball for Nouha Dicko to climb all over the back of Dorian Dervite and nod the ball home. The lack of quality in the final third, admittedly against a tight defence was depressingly worrying to say the least. Jay Spearing, Craig Davies, Joe Mason, Jermaine Beckford, Liam Feeney and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all missed chances. Owen Garvan missing the penalty was bad enough but missing the follow up was unforgivable. He could have been an instant hero or villain and he’s now cast as the latter. I give him credit for wanting to take it when all around him, other players declined to take responsibility. There isn’t that much difference between the top and the bottom in the Championship and we should be burying teams like Wolves, who are now third.

What’s the answer? Instead of buying ‘players who can pass’ that we don’t need, maybe we should coach our existing players to pass and save some brass for players that we do need. Instead of picking players who do well in training, maybe we should pick players who do well on the pitch. Players need to build up rapport and understanding between each other. That is not going to happen if you are playing with different players every match. Confidence is at a low ebb as shown by the lack of a queue to take the penalty. That is not going to improve if a player has a good match and is dropped to the bench or worse for the match after. Squad rotation might work at places like Chelsea where you have an abundance of superstars but it is not going to work at places like Bolton.

It’s a testing time for the management, players and fans alike. We’re not going to grace the Premier League any time soon. Indeed it is unlikely that we’ll be setting the Championship alight either. It is going to take time to turn the club around and we might have to drop further to find the right level to rebuild from, like our opponents today. However, if the team rolls its sleeves up, gets stuck in and fights for the cause, we will stand behind it and give it all the support it needs, whether it’s winning or not. Can Dougie Freedman supply the rest? His current strategy of giving the rest of the division six months start on us is unlikely to bear fruit, although it might give the half-season ticket sales a boost. Everybody from top to bottom at the club has to believe in the long term recovery plan. We need signs that it is beginning to work, however slowly that is. Football fans are born optimists. It’s a requirement for the job. But we do need some hope to cling on to. On Saturday, we got another false dawn.

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