Five Things - Sheffield Wednesday 1 v 2 Bolton Wanderers

After a blistering start Bolton survived late Sheffield Wednesday pressure to come away from Hillsborough with the points and move to within a point of the top half of the table.

Here are my five talking points from the weekend's game:

1) Darren Pratley - Goal Machine

Following his sublime touch and finish to put Bolton 2-0 up on Saturday, Pratley now has 4 goals from his last 6 games. This is a dramatic transformation from a player who has struggled to establish himself at the club after arriving from Swansea City at the end of his contract in 2011.

Under Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman, Pratley was in and out of the team and never really convinced when he was given an opportunity.

However since the arrival of Neil Lennon he has formed an energetic partnership with Neil Danns in the centre of the Bolton midfield and finally looks like the player who was linked with several Premier League clubs before signing for the Whites.

Pratley arrived at the club with a reputation as a goal scoring midfielder but I don't think he has managed more than 2 in a season.

His 4 goals so far this campaign make him joint leading scorer with Craig Davies and the quality of those goals at Millwall, Huddersfield and now Sheffield Wednesday should be applauded.

2) Trotter out, Trotters improve

Saturday saw Liam Trotter relegated back to the bench and this coincided with an improved performance from Bolton.

Having started the previous two league games against Huddersfield and Leeds, Trotter gave two laboured performances and Bolton only took a point from a possible 6.

In his defence he probably had his best game in a Bolton shirt in the FA cup win over Wigan but failed to build on that a week later against Leeds.

The through ball for the winning goal in the cup was quality and shows that he has the ability to be a very good player at this level.

However far too often Trotter appears lethargic and drifts through games when he should be bossing them. Its no surprise to see Bolton get off to a great start and unsettle the opposition with Trotter absent from the midfield.

3) Josh Vela in midfield

Directly replacing Liam Trotter in midfield was Josh Vela who returned to his natural position after impressing in recent games at right back.

It has been a hot topic recently as to whether Vela should step forward into midfield and after Saturday's performance it proved to be a big success.

Vela set up the first goal and added some much needed composure and passing ability to the midfield.

Although Danns and Pratley provide energy and dynamism they sometimes lack the quality on the ball that has been missing since the injury to Mark Davies.

As conditions worsened in yorkshire Bolton were forced to play more and more direct football and Vela proved he can mix it in the Championship often winning possession high up the pitch and providing relief to the defence.

Vela continues to look the part and will hopefully now be a fixture in the Bolton side for years to come.

4) Tactical flexibility

Under the leadership of Neil Lennon Bolton have turned out several different formations and Saturday was no different.

Lining up for the first time with 3 centre backs we looked reasonably comfortable and credit must go to the manager and coaching staff for being so flexible in their line ups.

It is a drastic change from the Freedman regime who seemed obsessed with using 2 holding midfielders and a lone striker no matter how ineffective it was.

Its refreshing to see Lennon in constant dialogue with his coaches and they seem to change players positions throughout the match, especially the forward players (with mixed success) but with the limited resources at their disposal has prevented Bolton from becoming too predictable so far.

5) Wasted Chances

Despite winning 2-1 the only negative to take from Saturday was the inability to kill off the game.

Several chances were wasted in the 2nd half and it left Bolton hanging on a little towards the end of the game.

The main culprit was Craig Davies who is understandably looking to regain his form after an injury lay off.

Heskey and Davies led the line at Wednesday and you cannot fault their effort however they are unlikely to get enough goals to sustain a play off push.

Further attacking reinforcements are needed this transfer window.