IF Bolton Wanderers don’t find a more ruthless edge before the end of this season, you fear they will be left only with lip service and another year in League One.
It is impossible to dislike Steven Schumacher’s side right now. They are playing football worthy of a side challenging for promotion, no player is especially off-form, and they appear to be following their coaching brief to the letter.
Another late rescue act to snatch a point against Ian Evatt’s Blackpool speaks well of the team’s character – and previous iterations would have dissolved in defeat after seeing their lead collapse inside four mad second-half minutes.
Yet this team seems intent on doing things the hard way. Just as they did against Reading in midweek Bolton dominated a game to the point of farce but somehow failed to get themselves on the scoreboard. What should have been a clean, clinical, efficient three points turned into a chaotic chase, and hasn’t that just been the story of the season?
You don’t need to be a statistical expert to see where Wanderers’ problem lies – they are second bottom, only to Port Vale, on chance conversion in League One this season, and this having had 100 shots at goal more than their closest rival Cardiff City.
To compound the frustration on Saturday, once Eoin Toal had headed the Whites into the lead at last, they chose to abandon everything they had done well in the first two-thirds of the game to throw Blackpool a lifeline.
Two quickfire goals and it was Bolton doing the chasing once again. Mason Burstow’s header was a fine one, hinting at the Hull City loanee’s return to top form, but let us not pretend that Blackpool could not also have gone on to win in what became a frenetic end to the match.
Before kick-off the talk centred on Evatt’s return for the first time since he left the Toughsheet in January 2025. Blackpool’s approach in the first hour was most un-Evatt like, and the visitors happily surrendered possession, leaving their wide defenders one-on-one with Corey Blackett-Taylor and Rob Apter in the hope they could pack the central areas and defend.
Bolton’s wide men revelled in the space and produced 24 crosses in the first half alone. Seldom did the players jostling for space in the penalty box seem to have the conviction to score, however, and that feels like the biggest letdown of the day.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell pushed away headers from Rob Apter and Chris Forino along with a howitzer from Kyle Dempsey. George Johnston and Chris Forino both went close, Blackett-Taylor struck the base of the post early in the second half – Wanderers had pinned their opponents back, ticking every box except for the one that mattered.
Blackpool were virtually anonymous as an attacking force aside for one break down their right where Leighton Clarkson crossed for Niall Ennis at the far post, and only some intelligent covering defending from Eoin Toal denied him a tap-in.
Banter between the two sets of fans flowed freely but rarely zeroed in on Evatt, who bounced around in his technical area in his time-honoured tradition. Comparisons to the calmer Schumacher, watching his own plan unfold, have never been easier.
Wanderers’ threat at set pieces was a constant, helped largely by some excellent deliveries from Dempsey and Apter. And on the 15th attempt from a corner Toal rose to head home the opening goal. Defences finally punctured, it was hard to see how Blackpool could get themselves back into the contest.
It was difficult to pin down exactly what went wrong over the next 11 minutes but Bolton stopped winning the ball in midfield, Blackpool came out of their shell, and quickly got their reward.
Two subs did the trick for Evatt, the first, Josh Bowler, getting behind Ethan Erhahon and George Johnston to cross low into the box, the ball deflected into Haydon Coulson’s path for a well-taken equaliser.
The stadium was still digesting that shock when keeper Jack Bonham attempted to play out through Josh Sheehan, getting the direction of his pass wrong and allowing another replacement, George Honeyman, to step forward and drive in a second goal.
It was a play Bolton have pulled off a hundred times before, Sheehan dropping deeper to collect the ball and set his side into attack. But it was hard not to make comparisons to the days when Evatt-Ball was failing and possession football lost its appeal completely for those on the terraces.
Shock turned into frustration. How had Wanderers found themselves in this position? Why must things continue to be so complicated?
Schumacher had already sent on Burstow and Thierry Gale before the second goal but added Johhny Kenny and Max Conway in the hope of reviving the flagging energy. All four subs felt a little late to the party – at least with the benefit of hindsight – but it would be Gale who created the equaliser with a wonderful deep cross, headed back across goal by Burstow for his 10th of the season.
Knowing how strong Wanderers have been in stoppage time, most stayed behind to watch the last seven minutes unfold with a vague sense of expectation. Once again, things did not go according to plan.
Forino made a superb block to prevent Bloxham from getting a tap in, Bonham also slightly redeemed himself with a late save – but Ashley Fletcher, the former academy striker schooled at Canon Slade – nearly grabbed the headlines with another late chance which bounced off the outside of the post after he had made his way past the sprawling keeper.
As if the drama couldn’t get any higher, Gale cut in from the right to curl a right-footed effort inches wide of the far post. Most people inside the Toughsheet thought it was in, Schumacher broke his stoic pose to sink to his knees with head in hands.
And so another bittersweet point. Lincoln’s win at Mansfield gives them a 10-point cushion and the knowledge that barring a spectacular collapse, they will be playing Championship football next season.
Bolton can currently and justifiably claim to be the best of the rest. And, ultimately, that is what they must prove by mid-May. Psychologically it is a long time to dwell on the play-offs but perhaps a chance to work on the Achillies heel which most threatens their chances of following Lincoln and Cardiff up.
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