Big Match Verdict: Wanderers leave it late but win through against Fleetwood

IT won’t change the mood of frustration at Wanderers, nor win over many of the critics which have multiplied since the weekend, but Aaron Collins’ late goal might just have raised the ghost of a smile for some as it booked Bolton’s place in the knockout rounds.

Collins scored twice to keep a plucky Fleetwood side down, in front of the Toughsheet Stadium’s lowest attendance since 2016.

That the gate was so low was primarily down to the public’s nonplussed attitude to the competition, rather than any great rallying against Ian Evatt or the club. The attendance was just 160 down on the previous group game against Aston Villa’s kids.

Those who did turn up watched Wanderers labour until the very end, where Collins’s close-range finish at least ensured they were back home 20 minutes earlier and spared the ignominy of a penalty shootout.

Wanderers made five changes to the side that had started at Stockport, giving midfielder Sonny Sharples-Ahmed his full debut and bringing Gethin Jones in for his first start of the season.

Jones also became Bolton’s fifth different captain of the season, taking the armband from George Johnston, who had done the job at Edgeley Park.

Sharples-Ahmed aside, Evatt resisted the urge to bring B Team players in wholesale, which at least gave some of his seniors a chance to get the weekend out of their system somewhat. From a supporters’ perspective, the agenda will not shift much until Blackpool come to the Toughsheet a week on Saturday, but for the likes of Will Forrester, Jay Matete, Josh Dacres-Cogley and Collins, the opportunity to get back on the horse would surely have appealed.

Over in the Premier Suite, the Champion of Champions snooker event was taking place, so supporters were shifted to the West Stand Lower to make sure there were no unnecessary noises and distractions. By half time, you wondered which event had the more raucous atmosphere.

Bolton didn’t really do much to get the pulses racing. Collins made sure they went in at half time a goal up, a dead-eyed finish from the edge of the box after Randell Williams’ cross was half cleared, but genuinely cohesive passages of play were few and far between.

Victor Adeboyejo brought a good save out of debutant keeper Luke Hewitson, turning an acrobatic volley towards goal from Lolos’s cross, and a deflected free kick from Williams also brought the best out of the teenager, who managed to push the ball around his post despite travelling in the wrong direction.

Sharples-Ahmed won his fair share of duels in a congested midfield. The former Walkden High School pupil was tidy on the ball and certainly didn’t look out of place against a side that has been going well in League Two of late.

Fleetwood also missed a good chance of their own with the game at 0-0, Ryan Graydon scooping Carl Johnston’s cross over the top from 10 yards out.

Otherwise, it was all rather slow and scrappy from the Whites, who did just about enough to be ahead but little to make those hardy few fans who did turn out offer anything other than polite applause as the two sides jogged back down the tunnel.

The visitors were bright at the start of the second half, injecting some much-needed urgency into a game that may well have been moving slower than the snooker next door. One sloppy pass from Williams led to a chance for Harratt, his shot glancing the outside of the post, and then a few moments later another poor ball from ex-Fleetwood man Matete put Bolton on the back foot, Graydon’s shot wrong-footing Baxter and bouncing into the net.

The player’s lack of celebration said it all, this wasn’t a night for getting over-excited. And it was a good job too, as Wanderers’ in-possession play had slowed to a crawl.

So sparse was the crowd that you could pick out the individual groans and moans as the ball refused to stick at the feet of Adeboyejo, or a pass went astray in the middle of the park from Matete. Surely, this week of all weeks, Bolton were not going to serve up a result to make things feel worse than before?

Well, thankfully, they snapped out of their second-half malaise sufficiently to stop the rot and eventually secure the win. But, boy, did they make hard work of it.

With the game finally picking up some pace, a slip from Williams as he attempted to clear a cross with 20 minutes to go presented a decent shooting opportunity for Graydon, thankfully rushed and blasted over the bar.

John McAtee nearly scored with his first touch, clearing the bar after a good cut-back from Jones, who given this was his longest spell of action for several months was moving well.

McAtee then brought an incredible save out of Hewitson with a swerving volley, Liam Shaw doing just enough to clear in front of Collins, who looked favourite to nudge the loose ball over the line.

Graydon then forced Nathan Baxter into a good save at the other end, having been teed up by sub Mipo Odubeko, both sides knowing a goal would probably secure the spoils, and avoid the nuisance of going to penalties.

As the fourth official signalled three minutes of added time, Bolton finally got it right. Sharples-Ahmed clipped a deep cross into the box, helped back by Dacres-Cogley at the far post, and tapped into an open net by Collins for his second of the night.

The final whistle sounded as Fleetwood launched their keeper forward for a succession of corners – a rare note of high drama on a night of little consequence.

And as the match announcer reminded everyone on their way back out of the building, it’s Blackpool up next, where a similar score-line would be celebrated with much more aplomb.