Disappointed in Derby,

By Liam Hatton

There was a feeling moments before Kane Wilson headed Derby in front which felt like something unfortunate would happen for Bolton Wanderers.

Maybe it was just me who went into the game expecting the worst, but Pride Park has not been a happy hunting ground in recent times. The Rams have had the best of Bolton on a number of occasions, with last Saturday’s display a disappointing defeat in their bid for an automatic slot.

At one point Ian Evatt’s men had three games in hand on Portsmouth and could have taken over first spot, now they find themselves four points adrift of Derby in second place - which is effectively five points with goal difference playing a major part.

The game represented what we have come to know and love (sometimes) about Evatt’s Bolton team. They can dominate games, they can have chances to put away the opposition, but if they do not make those count then it turns out like the Wigan defeat in which they have nothing to show for their efforts.

Evatt may be scratching his head coming away from the game wondering how Bolton lost. That is a slightly fair point, but it is tough to put your finger on what is going wrong. For a Wanderers team who have scored the most goals in a calendar year in the club’s history, they sure do seem to miss chances to put teams away more comfortably.

Maybe Bolton did not deserve to lose, but it would be difficult to say they were worthy of a win. They did trouble Joe Wildsmith - there was a huge header by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson which required an excellent outstretched hand to push it away and George Thomason saw a shot inside the box pushed over.

Regardless of Bolton’s decent play for most of the game however, the statistics show that Derby wound up with the same amount of shots on target and just like the Wigan defeat, as soon as they scored Bolton slightly lost their aura and the opposition could sense that they were on the ropes.

The fight for second place is well and truly out of Bolton’s hands now. If Derby go seven points ahead after Saturday then it would be a long road back. Stranger things have happened in football but if you were a betting man then you would not back Bolton at this point.

For the sake of being an optimist, if Bolton return from the international break with a healthy Dion Charles and Nathan Baxter then that would be progress. Their remaining fixtures are not easy games, but anyone can beat anyone in this league.

If it is play-offs then so be it. Third place is a must as a minimum, as you would ideally like to face the sixth placed team with the second leg at home.

But that is for a time in the future, for now I guess we still have some games to play. The fat lady is not quite ready to sing yet, but she is heading down the M1 to Derbyshire and her vocal chords are starting to get warm.

Giving it a break,

By Tony Thompson

FOR the sake of my own sanity, and once I have finished writing my column, I am not planning to think about Bolton Wanderers again until after the international break.

The game at Derby seemed to sum our season up. There was a lot to admire, the football at times was fantastic, but all the way through you worried about the final result.

Every week we see statistics which praise the number of goals this team scores, how well they keep the ball, how many points they have taken, it is neverendingly positive and it does reflect well on the manager and his team.

But he won’t need me to point out that when the pressure is on, in a game like last weekend, his team are too often found wanting. And that will be the difference between a team that looks good on paper and a team that gets promoted at the end of the season.

I do accept that Ian Evatt has had no luck with injuries – Nathan Baxter, particularly, but you look at the players who have been missing at Derby and Portsmouth, and it is no different there.

The two teams above Bolton in the table probably don’t finish on top of all those statistical tables, I don’t know what their XG is, or what percentage of possession they get, and frankly I don’t think they care. The only table that matter is the one that puts them in the Championship next season.

I don’t blame Evatt or the players for trying to put a positive spin on things. Until Derby are mathematically impossible to catch then they have to keep up the chase as best they can but I don think many of the fans who walked out of Pride Park last weekend felt that it was achievable.

You look at the way the team has progressed under this manager from League Two, to solid mid-table in League One, then beaten in the play-offs after finishing fifth, and wonder if the next step in that evolution is to finish third? It is still progress, of course, and it might mean they can go up at Wembley, which would be no bad thing.

The biggest danger is that we have talked about automatic promotion all season, non-stop, but only now is that talk starting to look fanciful. The deflation being felt by supporters could be dangerous, especially if the players are feeling the same.

That’s it. Done. I’ll start letting myself think about Bolton Wanderers again when they play against Stevenage and maybe I’ll even let myself dream again?