Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Hull City: Five (Late) Things

I know it's late, but life is life and these things happen.

Let's dive straight in:

1) We Only Bloody Won!

Would you believe it! Shocking I know - but we did play well, which coupled with Hull City's abysmal showing, allowed us just a fifth win of this most appalling seasons.

Jimmy Phillips must be given credit for the way he has organised the midfield and defence since taking over from Neil Lennon. Moving Derik into a permanent holding role has meant more protection for the defence.

This, along with the long-awaited return to good form from David Wheater has meant that his Bolton Wanderers is more solid than the one that went before.

It's not perfect, and we benefited from Hull really not giving a toss, but it gave us cause to smile and that hasn't happened much this year.

2) Poor Pratley

We've all seen that GIF haven't we? It summed up Darren Pratley in a rather ugly nutshell.

I don't doubt that he cares, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Bolton fan who is desperate to keep him around next season for the League One grind.

Against Hull he ran around a bit, but that was it. He was his usual self on the ball and as usual he struggled to make an impact in the game.

I presume the MOTM award from Sky was some sort of joke.

3) Delightful Derik

The former Real Madrid man has looked at home in front of the defence, rather than at the centre of it.

With a calmness and composure on the ball, he offers something different to the frenzied panic of Josh Vela and the wastefulness of Neil Danns.

Going forward into League One he's a key man for Bolton Wanderers, and he was really efficient against Hull City on Saturday lunchtime.

The idiot who sits behind me was bemoaning him and demanding that he 'shows more' - whatever that means - don't worry Derik, we're not all like that.

4) Emile Heskey

I thought he did very well. Hull presented weak opposition to him, but still the old timer won every header he faced and was involved in some decent build-up play.

I presume that this will be his final appearance at the Reebok and although he didn't score (this goes without saying), he was involved throughout and can be proud of his contribution to the victory.

Before the game I was disappointed that he was starting, especially when we had Jamie Thomas on the bench, but Jimmy made his choice and we took the three points, so any grumbles I have are moot.

5) George Newell

Another debutant and this time it was the no.51 George Newell, son of ultra-feminist Mike ex-Everton and Blackburn Rovers striker.

Newell had a good chunk of game time and looked keen. Keen and malnourished.

He showed some decent touches and got himself forward at every opportunity. I like seeing the eagerness of youth and think that it offers us another dimension up top - especially in the post Liam Feeney era.

Good on Newell and good on Jimmy to give him his bow. I look forward to seeing more next season.