Zach Clough made his league debut in the SkyBet Championship and he certainly left his mark on Saturday's proceedings. Clough single handedly turned the game on its head whilst netting his third goal in only 2 games along the way!
Clough was named to start on the team sheet alongside new signing, Adam Le Fondre, who had recently arrived from Cardiff which sparked scenes excitement amongst the Bolton Wanderers fan base.
Clough struck twice in quick succession during the first half on his SkyBet Championship debut after Nouha Dicko's early goal had put the visitors in the lead. Clough's first goal came from a free-kick right on the edge of the Wolverhampton Wanderers penalty area. Clough and Ream both stood over the ball, however it was the 19 year old who confidently stepped up and placed the ball perfectly into Carl Ikea's bottom right hand corner. The club's official twitter account may have got caught up in the moment as they mentioned how the legendary ‘Jay-Jay Okocha would be proud'. The free-kick was placed with such precision that the Wolves goalkeeper didn't even move, not bad going for your league debut.
Zach Clough's first league goal for #BWFC wasn't too bad. pic.twitter.com/MIbgsFQsfT
— Mark Yesilevskiy (@MarkWhyy) February 1, 2015
Two minutes later we saw Clough strike again. Tim Ream had ventured forward from defence and found Clough poaching around the Wolves 6 yard box. The academy graduate then showed great technique to snake his way around and pivot past Danny Batth to cooly slot the ball into the corner of Ikeme's goal.
Zach Clough continued to be a constant threat throughout the second half as he often picked up the ball from midfield and fearlessly ran through the Wolves back 4.
On the 70th minute manager Neil Lennon substituted the debutant who walked off the pitch to a standing ovation. He was substituted for Rob Hall and was reportedly enjoying a nice ice bath when he was informed about the visitors' demoralising 95th minute equaliser.
Lennon was presumably taking good care of Clough, bearing in mind that this was his first game back after recovering from a slight hamstring strain. With some rest and a bit of luck he will hopefully be fit and available for Wednesday's FA Cup fourth round replay against Liverpool at the Macron Stadium.
In an interview with the club's official website, this is what Bolton Wanderers manager Neil Lennon had to say about our Man of the Match,
"In Zach Clough we think we've found a very good player. He played very well to say he's not really kicked a ball for three weeks.''
Later on the club managed to also listen to Zach Clough's post match thoughts,
"It's a good point at home for us," said the forward.
"We were in front and unlucky to concede in the last minute. We do feel down about it but you've got to take the positives and go again.
"I was sat in the ice bath when one of the lads shouted down that they'd equalised. I felt gutted but it's another point for us at the end of the day.
"It's been very frustrating not being able to play. It was a long three weeks but thank god it's over now and I'm back fit and back playing.
"I was a bit tired because I'd only trained twice but it was great to back out there, to make my league debut and to score a couple of goals. I enjoyed it very much."
Clough continued: "I told Tim Ream that I was going to put it across the keeper into the top corner and thankfully that is exactly what I did.
"For the second one I just got it out of my feet and hit it as quickly and as hard as I could, and I think that caught the keeper out and surprised him a little bit.
"I'm also relishing the prospect of playing with Adam Le Fondre. He's got great movement, great pace, he's strong for a little man too. He found me a few times today and hopefully I'll be able to set
him up a few times during his time here too."