Bolton Wanderers 3-2 Sheffield United: Match Report

There was one change to the side that last won against Northampton Town; Derik was out for David Wheater with Tom Thorpe preferred to the Spaniard in midfield. Sheffield United surprisingly started with star striker Billy Sharpe on the bench.

The game started with a minutes applause for the victims of the recent plane crash in Brazil with all players wearing black armbands.

It was a very scrappy start from both team with neither stamping their authority on the game. Sheffield United undoubtedly looked the better of the two sides early on but rarely threatened Ben Alnwick.

Wanderers grew in to the game and it became increasingly clear that Sheffield were likely to concede. Wanderers had that goal mid way through the first half but it was unfortunately deemed to not have crossed the line. It came from a corner which was powered at goal by Mark Beevers for the keeper to make a great save. The rebound found its way to David Wheater who got the ball over the line only to see it not count following a clearance from behind the line. There were also chances in this period for Gary Madine which was denied by a stunning save and Zach Clough.

As it looked as though the sides would go in goalless, Gary Madine 'goal machine' stepped up and broke his goal duck which stretched all the way back to August. He rifled the ball from an acute angle in to the net. 1-0.

Wanderers came out after half time and immediately got themselves another. Some absolutely stunning build up play from Zach Clough ended in a goal for Sammy Ameobi. Clough cut in from the left wing and beat 2 players which made space for Sammy outside of the box. Zach laid it off to Sammy to score an absolute peach from outside of the box. 2-0.

Sheffield would get back in to it against the run of play. Another goal from outside of the box from Paul Coutts. Not a patch on Sammy's though, this was deflected in. 2-1.

From there Wanderers had to hold on a bit as Sheffield began to believe. Luckily we have the best academy in the world with Josh Vela and Zach Clough on hand to quell the fire. Superb work again from Clough who cut in from the left wing, beat two players, and fired in a perfect pass to Vela. Vela used a sublime first touch to beat all of the Sheffield defence and smashed it in to the net. A really stunning goal 3-1.

Thank god Wanderers fans on twitter were on hand to jinx this lead however; sure enough Sheffield got another back in the last minutes of regular time. Jack O'Connell headed home from a Sheffield United corner to make the last few minutes of time tense as feck. 3-2

Sheffield kept pressing but Wanderers dealt with the pressure exceedingly well. The 4 minutes of extra time went by with Wanderers managing the game very well. Final score 3-2 to the Wanderers.