SEASON ticket sorted. New home shirt sorted.

It can only be the start of the new season, but it has started with a feeling of all dressed up and nowhere to go.

No walking down the Manny Road, or Burnden Way for that matter yet. It is so frustrating as there is real optimism that we might begin to emerge from the dark ages of the past decade.

We have got owners who care about Bolton Wanderers, we have got new management and a whole new squad of players. We just hope that we can be in the crowd to witness as much as possible of the reincarnation of Bolton Wanderers.

At the moment, that is not possible but old habits die hard and I managed to squeeze in a couple of socially distant Doombars in the No-Name before returning home to watch the match on iFollow.

My phone was buzzing with calls from fellow fans as between us, we frantically worked out how to get the video stream up and running. But we got there in the end.

It is not much fun watching a match on your own, because of current lockdown rules but we kept some banter up on social media with Bolton and Bradford fans around the world.

The Bantams were likely to provide a real test of life in League 2 as they are expected to be one of the favourites for promotion.

Ian Evatt named a completely new team with only Alex Baptiste ever having played for the Wanderers in a previous life.

The complimentary matchday supplement download was most welcome in discovering who was playing for us.

We have been promised a more positive, pressing style of play and this was very evident as we dominated possession, particularly in the first half.

However, Bradford dominated the chances, forcing Billy Crellin into a string of good saves. Slack defending cost us the two goals.

It was good to see Antoni Sarcevic open his account for us, but we lacked that cutting edge up front, as Bradford ran out deserved winners.

There was plenty of promise in our performance, but it will take time for this team to gel. On-field relationships need to be formed, along with trust and understanding of each other’s roles.

Rome was not built in a day and neither will we be rebuilt in one match. Today was only the beginning.