A TEAM with a mystifying capability of being thrilling and infuriating in equal measure, often within the confines of a single game, watching Wanderers cannot be good for your long-term health prospects.
Quite how the most compelling 45 minutes of football this season can be followed so quickly by another one spent chewing fingernails to the quick is one of life’s great mysteries. But that seems to be the way at Wanderers these days.
If there were any neutrals in the Toughsheet on Saturday afternoon then they will surely have gone home happy. For the other 21,000-plus patrons, a lie down in a quiet, dark room, and the impossible task of wondering what happens next.
Wanderers had not won four games on the spin since the turn of 2024, a time when they were chasing Portsmouth at the top of the table, clear of Peterborough United, Derby County, Oxford United and – yes – Barnsley, with no hint of the pain to come.
This time they are in pursuit. Cardiff and Lincoln’s frightening consistency was highlighted yet again this weekend and it seems only natural to question whether Schumacher’s side can continue to blow hot and cold like this and still catch up.
What is beyond question now is that it will be an exciting ride. The addition of loan wingers Corey Blackett-Taylor and Rob Apter have breathed fresh life into a team that was losing its way a little at Christmas. Meanwhile, Sam Dalby has hit top form at a perfect time, his two goals and an assist in the first half against Barnsley securing him some well-deserved plaudits.
Had Bolton gone in at half time six goals to the good, not a soul in the away end could have uttered a word in complaint.
Oddly, Jack Bonham produced a full-length save just 22 seconds into the game from Scott Banks, after which the Tykes disintegrated under the weight of their own possession game, Bolton’s press turning over the ball time and time again in the attacking half.
Furthermore, Wanderers threatened at every set piece. Deliveries from Kyle Dempsey and Apter were impressively consistent and it was the former who whipped a cross in for Dalby to head home in a crowded six-yard box just five minutes in.
Owen Goodman in the Barnsley goal split his time between making big saves from Blackett-Taylor, John McAtee and Eoin Toal, and contributing to the sloppiness on the ball. Indeed, Bolton’s fans may have had flashbacks to the way their opponents stubbornly stuck to a policy of playing out from the back despite lacking any sort of confidence to do so effectively.
McAtee fizzed against his former club, linking up midfield and attack, with Dempsey and Ethan Erhahon picking up where they had left off against Wimbledon by snapping up any loose pass in seconds.
Dalby scored his second from close range after another Dempsey corner had flicked off Toal and landed nicely for him at the far post.
And when a few minutes later the Bolton striker rolled his marker to square a pass for McAtee to crash home the third goal, it was little wonder that some of the Barnsley fans were heading for the exits.
Conor Hourihane had made just two changes from the team that had worked hard for a point on a muddy pitch in midweek against Northampton Town, and this was a team that looked out of its feet.
The only disappointing note for Bolton is that they hadn’t scored more by the break. And when Barnsley’s players were sent out five minutes early with four subs ready to enter the field, you sensed the second half would take a different path.
Still Bolton should have extended the lead. Blackett-Taylor had another shot saved by Goodman and McAtee picked the wrong pass when clear on the edge of the box.
When a deflected shot from Luca Connell gave Barnsley a wholly unexpected lifeline, no-one in the stadium could have foretold the tension to come.
To his credit, Connell acknowledged the slice of good fortune after his daisy-cutter had clipped Toal and left Bonham wrong-footed. The moment destabilised Wanderers at the back, however, and the defending suddenly became desperate.
Adam Phillips – one of the half-time replacements – profited from an untidy moment from Chris Forino to score the visitors’ second. And what had been a hugely positive atmosphere at the Toughsheet suddenly lurched to one of concern.
Wanderers do deserve some credit for recovering their poise and though Bonham had to bail his side out with a late save from Nat Ogbeta’s header, the pressure being exerted by Barnsley did not necessarily equate to shots on goal. The sense of relief at the final whistle was no less pronounced.
Lincoln’s comeback win at Plymouth had meant three points was a must, and so Schumacher takes his side to Sincil Bank next week knowing any win could blow the automatic promotion race wide open.
This new burst of attacking adventurousness suggests that the Whites can go and trouble a well-drilled Imps defence and a club that, like Bolton, have sampled defeat just once at home all season.
Yet still the doubt lingers. Schumacher’s improving side have not yet shown the indisputable consistency needed to be the other side of that dotted line. Excitingly, it does not look beyond them, but we wait to see if this group of players can really kick into top gear and show they can climb into the Championship.
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