Bolton v Millwall: Immediate Reaction

What a game.

Coming in on the high of a brilliant win last week, the pressure was definitely on for Bolton Wanderers today.

And boy, did they deliver.

5 minutes into the game, Jermaine Beckford and Chung-Yong Lee combined some fabulous footwork to get the ball to Rob Hall, who ultimately let it find a place in the net.

Our defense played so-so for a bit, seemingly tripping over their feet as Easter equalized for Millwall but that served as a bit of a wake-up call for the rest of the half.

Things looked dreary for a while, with neither team doing much of anything, and then Jermaine Beckford happened.

A beautiful ball from Tim Ream found Beckford inside the penalty area and it was all Bolton from there.

The second half still saw a persistent Bolton team that, although was slowed down by the hail and rain, still managed to keep itself together.

Towards the end of the game, the momentum for both teams seemed to be fizzling out and despite Millwall constantly pressing men forward, Bolton found a way to secure the first home win of the season. Andre Moritz smashed his shot high into the top corner for his first Bolton goal, and the match was ours.

It seems like after long enough, this Bolton team has finally started to find itself (and the confidence from winning sure helps too). Sure, there's always improvements to be made, but we've grown and come a long way since that very first game against Burnley 3 months ago. Winning consistently doesn't seem like such a far-fetched idea now and if we could keep playing the way we have the last two weeks, promotion (or at least anything BUT relegation) isn't out of the question.

This isn't me being overly-optimistic, it's not a one-off, this is OUR Bolton Wanderers finally coming together to be the team that Dougie Freedman was brought in to make. We just needed some time to figure it all out and with the fans believing and supporting the team week in and week out, we've made a drastic 180 degree turn on how we play and I'm more than confident in saying that this is the type of football we should be (and will be) playing for the rest of the season.

So the first home win of the game is ours, we're unbeaten in seven games (having won 3 of of the last 5), and this season is ours to do what we want with.

Upward and onwards.