Bolton Wanderers v Blackpool: Immediate Reaction

So it wasn't the prettiest game we've played...

The meaningful ones never are though, right? As much as I love those rare matches where we score so many goals I have to check and see if I'm even watching the right team, it's performances like today that, strangely enough, give me confidence in Bolton Wanderers.

Blackpool FC tried, they really did. But Bolton's back four was consistent today, to the point where I started drafting this reaction as a victorious one at halftime. Since when does that happen?!

There will be people who find problems with our general formation, or our attacking, or our midfield or even people who just want to keep finding reasons to send Dougie Freedman away. But our defense? I don't know what major flaw you could find with that back 4, especially after a game like today. Hell, our only goalscorer was David Wheater and he's a defender!

This whole team fought for these 3 points today and that's what matters to me. Sure, maybe we're led by an incompetent manager, or we're broke and struggling or we're doomed to stay in the Championship until someone saves us. And yeah, Blackpool didn't really seem to get close on more than a handful of occasions, but that wasn't us getting lucky, that was us being prepared and talented (shocker, I know).

But none of that mattered today for 90 minutes, did it? Because the team you love, that I love, that a hell of a lot of people love finally showed us that there's still something to look forward to and that there is hope, no matter how many games we've botched in the past.

Today was a must-win and we got it, now it's onwards and upwards and time to beat Wigan.