MAYBE it was right that Stevenage were in town to kick the last few drops of hubris out of this underachieving Bolton Wanderers team and leave no doubt of the hard work ahead this summer.
Steven Schumacher was correct, had one of the three outstanding chances been converted by Aaron Collins, John McAtee or Szabi Schon in the first 15 minutes then the margin of victory would most likely have been a handsome one.
The swaggering version of Bolton turned up briefly at the start of the game, threatening to put in a performance that could mask some of the disappointment that has gone before. But their failure to capitalise on that early dominance brought into focus a more familiar picture, one of a group which has failed to add up to the sum of its parts, or the cost of its purchase.
This is a team which has produced fleeting moments of value – playing Birmingham City off the park, fighting to beat Huddersfield or Wigan on their own patch, even obliterating Stevenage in the reverse fixture back in October, when we were all still being told that the inconsistency was just a passing fad.
But this is also a collection of individuals who have proven beyond doubt that they lack the necessary fibre to get out of this division. There is neither sufficient character or balance to the squad that Schumacher inherited, and considering the vast quantities of cash that have been wasted over the last 18 months to create this monster, you only hope that the head coach will get some similar backing to work the same sort of magic he did at Plymouth Argyle a few years ago.
More than a dozen first team players were missing, injured or just plain absent, so to judge this display in isolation isn’t worthwhile. Other than the wayward finishing, of which there was plenty, some of the attacking football was watchable, even if it is still difficult to differentiate between Brand Evatt and Brand Schumacher.
The lack of a genuine number nine has been apparent for a laughably long time, and it still seems inconceivable that when Dion Charles was sold to Huddersfield Town back in January, the solution supplied was Cardiff City loanee Kion Etete – a player who had only featured for 45 minutes of an FA Cup tie this season.
Looking past his error on debut against Reading, the complete lack of impact the striker has made on the pitch since coming to the club chisels his face on the Mount Rushmore of poor signings made in this millennium.
A total of 73 minutes, no shots on target. Etete was nowhere to be seen on Saturday and the cynical among us might suggest that has been the case since the team coach returned from the 1-0 defeat in Schumacher’s first official game in charge.
Put frankly, Wanderers have choked on the big moments too often. It didn’t matter – in the grand scheme – that McAtee and Collins passed shots wide of goal early on against Stevenage, or that Schon overran the ball after being put clean through an ended gave keeper Taye Ashby-Hammond a chance to block.
Ove the season, however, those big moments have added up, whittled away at confidence, and produced a self-defeating cycle.
Once the chances had gone, Bolton retreated into their shell and allowed Stevenage to gain a foothold. The visitors’ gameplan wasn’t complicated but the effectiveness of their front two Louis Appere and Jame Reid was hard to ignore.
Young Sam Inwood coped well enough with a very different type of attack to the one at Peterborough last weekend, and George Johnston’s return to the team was also a welcome bonus after he became a dad for the first time.
Wanderers nearly grabbed a goal out of nothing early in the first half when McAtee produced an instinctive lob from hallway that cleared the stranded keeper and dropped just the wrong side of the post.
Gethin Jones flashed a ball right across goal shortly before being brought off for Josh Dacres-Cogley, the West Stand rising respectfully to their feet to acknowledge his efforts over the last five years.
Who knew it would be Dacres-Cogley who broke the deadlock? A quick corner and exchange with Joel Randall, and his shot was too much for the keeper to handle, the ball dribbling over the line apologetically.
Schumacher brought on David Abimbola and Daeshon Lawrence, two of Julian Darby’s double-winning Under-19s, and perhaps the inexperience started to tell as Bolton’s levels dropped once again.
Jake Young levelled, lashing home after Luther James-Wildin had headed back a deep cross at the far post, and the visitors should have made their pressure tell in the final stages to claim all three points.
The Whites finish the season on an unsatisfactory run of six games without a win, with more players sidelined by injury than available to play, and with Schumacher facing a rebuilding job that must be bigger than he thought when he walked through the doors in late January. From the outside he may have seen some of the highlights, seen Bolton at their cocksure best, listened to the bombast. Now he knows the task at hand.
“We go again” was the mantra at the club’s end-of-season awards.
Wanderers seem intent on drawing a line under the disappointment, and that task should be easier than it was 12 months ago, when the embarrassment at Wembley had happened under the national gaze.
Furthermore, there seems a genuine appetite from Schumacher and his staff to make real change. There is no uncertainty, as there had been under Evatt, no question of pandering to ego or worrying about reputation.
If Bolton are to “go again” then the lessons of 2024/25 must be recognised and heeded. It is time for this club to roll up its collective sleeves.
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