CONNOR Hall admits there was an air of inevitability around the UniBol last season, both for him and Bolton Wanderers.

The Whites kicked off their ill-fated League One campaign 12 points behind everyone else after going in to administration while Hall began a "make or break" season looking to impress his then employers.

Unfortunately for Hall it proved to be break or, to be more accurate, a serious ankle injury, on the eve of the first game of the season at Wycombe Wanderers.

The injury kept Hall out of a match-day squad until late October and when he finally made his first appearance under Keith Hill as a second-half substitute in the FA Cup defeat to Plymouth Argyle, the striker pulled his hamstring.

For Hall, it was the beginning of the end even before it got going.

“My last season was my make or break, if I didn’t establish myself as a first-team starter then I knew my time would have been up there,” Hall the told The Bolton News’ Buff Extra podcast.

“I was supposed to start the first game of the season against Wycombe, but two days before it, I tore my ligaments in my ankle which obviously wasn’t great because, looking back, had I gone on and played really well, I might still be at the club, you never know.

“So I look at that and think it was unfortunate.

“My first game back was in the FA Cup against Plymouth, I have come on and pulled my hamstring and then after that I knew, the way the gaffer and everyone was with me, I kind of knew they were like ‘do your best, take your time getting back’ and I kind of knew I was done at the club and I had to go elsewhere.”

It was not the ideal way to impress new boss Hill who had replaced Phil Parkinson – not that Hill had shown any indication that Hall had a future at the UniBol.

And so it proved. Having made his one and only League One appearance off the bench against Portsmouth in mid-January, he joined Chorley on loan and his Bolton career was over.

“He chucked me on the bench a few times, brought me on for one game for five minutes and I kind of knew, even before the turn of the new year, I wasn’t in the good books and I was never going to kick on there with him in charge," Hall said.

“So the best thing was to go out and play some games rather than coming in to training, working hard and not making the squad on the weekend.

“You would rather go out, drop down a level or two and play some footy which is what I did.”

Hall impressed at Chorley but could not prevent them from relegation from the National League.

It earned him a move to Woking having been released from his contract after three years with the Whites – although he is now back with Chorley on loan and starring in a side that has reached the third round of the FA Cup, scoring goals in wins against League One sides Wigan Athletic and Peterborough United.

While he did not get a shot under Hill, Hall admitted the Bolton boss had "a near impossible task" of trying to keep Wanderers in League One.

He said: “It was really difficult obviously for Keith Hill to come in when he did, a lot of the top players around the Football League had sorted themselves out with clubs so he was kind of feeding off scraps and had to get players in who may or may not be ready who he wasn’t too sure about.

“He kind of got players in and just chucked a team together and that was all he could do. So it was always going to be difficult even with the minus 12, it was a near impossible task.”

Despite relegation being almost the certain outcome – well before the season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic – Hall said spirits were surprisingly high within the camp.

“It was very tricky but I think a lot of the boys that were there understood the circumstances the club had been in, knew it was going to be hard,” he said.

“So even when we were losing games, it wasn’t a bad atmosphere  because, at the end of the day, that is what you would expect when you start on minus 12 or when you chuck a team together, you don’t expect to win loads and loads of games of football.

“With a minus 12 you don’t expect to stay up. A lot of the boys were good, there were not really any bad eggs. Obviously people dig people out in games but in terms of atmosphere, it was ok, it was good but it wasn’t ideal getting relegated it was very tricky, it was a weird one.

“I don’t think anyone in that team is going to experience anything like that again.”

Having missed the opening 14 games of the season, Hall returned and was on the bench for a 2-0 away win at Bristol Rovers in October – a game where players and fans briefly flirted with the notion that perhaps mission impossible was achievable.

“I remember the game,” said Hall.”We had Bristol Rovers away, we won 2-0, Luke Murphy and Darryl Murphy scored  and it was after that game we were saying ‘we can do it, we can stay up’.

“I think a few results had gone in our favour. Fans were saying ‘we can stay up, we can do this’.

“That was the most belief we had had that season. After that game it was difficult, very difficult.”

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