FA Cup Match Report: Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Grimsby Town

A rather mundane and run-of-the-mill Saturday saw League One title hopefuls Bolton Wanderers defeat Grimsby Town by one goal to zero in order to progress to the Second Round of this season's FA Cup sponsored by whoever the hell it is today.

The game was watched by 7,700-odd according to the club, with 2,000 of that number being made up of Grimsbyites who seemed overawed by the big occasion which, considering the two clubs' recent histories, is perhaps understandable. It's strange then, to get a handle on why their fans chose to remain virtually silent throughout - perhaps they were overwhelmed seeing a stadium with two tiers.

The game itself was similarly meh.

Wanderers striker (and I saw that loosely) Jamie Proctor struck a post early on - but was otherwise his usual anonymous self. Zach Clough missed a one-on-one that summed up a quiet afternoon.

Soon after, Liam Trotter scored with a superb header. I've been banging on about it for weeks but our physicality at corners finally bore fruit as the big lummox stuck his header into the top right hand corner. I think the cool kids call it top bin, or something.

Bolton, in a typically Boltonian manner, allowed Grimsby back into the game in the second half with some sloppy defending, but fortunately Mark Howard was on his game and saved our bacon with two excellent stops from Rhys Browne. Good on him.

So it was seven wins from seven - our best run since 2004. Well done lads.

The draw for the Second Round takes place on Monday at 7pm.

The Line-Ups

Bolton Wanderers

• Mark Howard
• Lawrie Wilson
• David Wheater
• Mark Beevers
• Andrew Taylor (Booked at 83mins)
• Liam Trotter
• Alex Perry (replaced by Dean Moxey)
• Sammy Ameobi
• Chris Taylor (replaced by James Henry)
• Zach C
• +lough
• Jamie Proctor (Booked at 55mins - replaced by Keshi Anderson)

Substitutes

• Lewis Buxton
• Dean Moxey
• Keshi Anderson
• Ben Alnwick
• Max Clayton
• James Henry
• Jack Earing

Grimsby Town

• 1 McKeown
• 12 Mills
• 6 Gowling (Booked at 80mins)
• 22 Collins
• 3 Andrew (Booked at 22mins)
• 8 Disley
• 16 Berrett (replaced by Browne)
• 19 Summer field
• 26 Comley (replaced by Bolarinwa)
• 9 Bogle (Booked at 81mins - replaced by Jackson)
• 21 Vernon

Substitutes

• 5 Pearson
• 7 Chambers
• 11 Browne
• 14 Jackson
• 18 Bolarinwa
• 20 Boyce
• 24 Warrington

Referee:

Trevor Kettle

Attendance:

6,649 (yeah right)