The day began with a ‘ding dong do’ as Barbara Higson and her family opened the ‘The Dave Higson Fanzone Bar’, dedicated to her husband, the legendary Bolton Wanderers supporter Dave Higson.

On a day of openings, Big Sam was also on hand to open the Crofters Gin and Prosecco bar in the continually improving Fanzone.

There was a great atmosphere building up for the game against the Owls, who always bring a good crowd to Bolton. Both teams have had a decent start and this match would be a real test of our credentials for the season ahead.

The other big topic amongst our fans was the chance to pick next season’s home and away kit, another welcome initiative that shows that we are getting our club back and moving forward together.

As is the norm these days, Ian Evatt rang the changes, making five in total as we prepared to face ex-Wanderer Barry Bannan and company.

For the first 35 minutes, it was a close, tense affair as both teams sounded each other out. In a crazy five minutes spell, the match could have been won but was eventually lost. We missed a glorious one-on-one chance to go ahead, while almost immediately nearly conceded a careless own goal, closely followed by two well-taken goals for Wednesday, which seem to catch our defence napping. After that, Wednesday were in control and we could do very little about it, despite bringing on five substitutions.

On the day, Wednesday fully deserved this win to keep up their recent record of good results against us.

One defeat is not going to decide our season. This was a timely reality check that we are up against a number of good teams in this league and that we will have to fight for every point along the way.

Dealing with the fans’ higher expectations this season will be a new challenge for Evatt. How we respond to setbacks like this one is important. We need to dust ourselves down and then stand up and be counted at our next league match against Plymouth Argyle. We need to keep together, more than ever. Of course, there is the small diversion of Stevie Gerrard’s Aston Villa on Tuesday night but that should be another big night to enjoy for fans and players alike as we have nothing to lose in that game and lots to gain.