clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Five Things: Brentford 2-2 Bolton Wanderers

We take a look at five talking points from and around Saturday's 2-2 draw at Brentford

Bogdan's return to form has cemented his position as first choice at Bolton
Bogdan's return to form has cemented his position as first choice at Bolton
Stu Forster/Getty Images

Bolton Wanderers had one of their most positive away days in a season of terrible performances as they secured a point with a 2-2 draw at Brentford on Saturday.

But what are the five key takeaways from our penultimate away match of the season?

1. Footballers shouldn't be getting drunk in the team hotel

This may sound like a fairly obvious statement, but clearly it's a lesson that certain players need to learn. Yes footballers are human and they may need to blow off steam between matches, but getting rat-arsed in the club hotel clearly isn't the way to do it.

We don't know the ins and outs of what happened so I don't want to dwell on this too much, but it's great to see Neil Lennon putting his foot down and sending out a clear message to all of his players that this kind of behaviour won't be tolerated. It remains to be seen whether Barry Bannan's involvement in this affair affects the possibility of him rejoining the club this season, and it's not the first time he's been disciplined for misdemeanours by a club, but it's a shame that these off-field acts could overshadow his impressive on-pitch contributions.

2. The welcome return of Mark Davies

It's great to see Mavies back. His performance against Charlton on his return from injury showed us what we've been missing far too often in his Wanderers career, and the goal at Brentford showed the attacking instinct our midfield has lacked at times this season. No it wasn't the most difficult goal ever, but his willingness to harass defenders and get into the opposition box is invaluable. He's been ridiculously unlucky with injuries so let's hope he can get a good summer rest, then a solid pre-season behind him and come back firing next season.

3. Bogdan - Bolton's number one

Bogdan's performances of late have all but cemented his position as Bolton's first choice goalkeeper once again. At times this season he's either struggled with injuries, or demoted to number two choice behind Andy Lonergan, who admittedly has performed well when called upon. But Bogdan has certainly won me over lately, and he has to be considered the future as far as our goalkeeping choices go.

4. Heskey is still a beast

If we didn't know it already then Saturday confirmed that Emile Heskey still has a lot to contribute despite now being 37. Throughout his career he's hardly been the world's most electric goalscorer - 128 goals in 600 carerer league games is testament to that - but everyone knows that what he does bring is an imposing focal point of an attack. Saturday typified just that - he missed a sitter after battling his way clean through on goal, but then superbly setup Adam Le Fondre for our first equaliser. His form is rumoured to be being rewarded with another contract for next season, and if he can keep it up then he'll still have a big part to play.

5. We can play away from home

For far too long now our away form has been an embarrassment, and if it wasn't for our decent home performances we'd be in serious danger of getting relegated. Our away form is actually the second worst in The Championship with just 16 points from 22 games and just four victories - only Blackpool have a worse record with 7 points and they haven't won a single away match all season. By contrast our home form is the 10th best in the league, so there's clearly a huge gap between our performances at the Macron and away from it. But in securing a draw at Brentford, who have performed well above expectations to be 7th in the league, Wanderers showed that they can play well away. I don't expect us to get much out of the trip to Bournemouth next Monday, but hopefully we can expect a bit more success away from the Macron next season.