Player Ratings: Bolton Wanderers 1-2 Swindon Town

I hate it when that happens.

Bolton Wanderers lost, and deservedly so, but it brings out the worst in some members of our fanbase.

Booing? After the season we have had? Come off it. Constructive criticism is fine, but booing? No thanks.

Anyway on to ratings:

Ben Alnwick - 7

Made three good saves to keep us in the game at 1-0 and 1-1. No chance with either goal.

Lawrie Wilson - 5

A poor performance after his recent successes. Struggled with Swindon's pacy counter attacks and offered little going forward.

Andrew Taylor - 5

His poorest game for us. As with Wilson he found it hard and was often wasteful on the ball which isn't like him.

David Wheater - 8

An excellent, battling performance capped by a superb goal.

Mark Beevers - 8

Some great blocks and composed passing showed yet again why he's already won our Player of the Year award in the minds of many supporters.

Jay Spearing - 5

Another who will be disappointed with his performance. He was off in most areas of the game, with set pieces a major disappointment.

Tom Thorpe - 6.5

Was surprisingly hooked by Phil Parkinson who made an attacking substitution which didn't work out and which may have cost us the game. Thorpe was calm and composed on the ball, but could perhaps do with getting stuck in a bit more when the going gets particularly tough.

James Henry - 7

Our main attacking outlet, Henry was always looking to run in the right direction and on another day would have come away with two goals though his final ball was often overhit.

Josh Vela - 6.5

Looking tired, Vela struggled to get into the game early on, but by the end was his usual swashbuckling self and is another who, on a different day, would have scored for Bolton. Final ball was sometimes poor.

Zach Clough - 5

Clough missed a very presentable chance early on and it seemed to affect him for the rest of the game. He was given plenty of the ball but his recent partnership with Taylor on the left side failed to produce, and when he doesn't fire it tends to spread through the rest of the team.

Gary Madine - 4

As one tweet succinctly put it, Madine is scared to shoot. This is quite a problem for your main striker. Whilst sometimes able to play as a reasonable battering ram, Madine just doesn't have the brains to be a striker. Guilty of at least three appalling dives, he can count himself lucky that we do not have anyone in the whole club who can challenge him for a place. He was semi-reasonable in the air, but more often than not he failed to even get off the ground. This was a return of the Madine from last season.

Subs

Max Clayton - 6

Struggled to get involved, and looks like someone who has barely played in two years. I think it'll be a good month before we see him looking anything like the player he was.

Jamie Proctor - NA

Didn't get much of a chance.

Manager

Phil Parkinson

Sent out a tired team, and was unable to force changes via his subs. Will no doubt be keen to crack on and get into the transfer market for some much-needed squad depth.