Five Things: Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Reading

Jesus wept, lads. What on earth do Bolton Wanderers have to do to get three points these days? We play well, then manage to fuck it up somehow. Sigh. Here’s my five things.

1) Sammy Ameobi

Literally the most ridiculous footballer on the planet. I thought he played pretty well in the first half; he made things happen down the right and got stuck in defensively. Pretty sure he assisted Burke’s goal too but don’t quote me on that.

Anyway, not sure what happened at half time but it looked like our Sammy treated himself to a bit of a dressing room nap because he was half asleep for the remainder of the game.

Disinterested, lacklustre, lost, useless - these are all words we can use to describe his second half performance. Should’ve been taken off after 55 minutes. Also, fuck him for that stupid, pointless tackle that gave away the penalty. Idiot.

2) Substitutions (Or lack of)

The blame for last night’s result sits largely with Parky. Bringing Le Fondre and Noone on with 5 minutes to go was, for want of a better phrase, fucking pointless.

As much as I dislike the latter, they both created chances and made things happen in the final third, so imagine what they could’ve done with more time on the pitch.

What’s the point in having so many attacking players in the match day squad if we don’t give them chance to get into the game? I get that Reading only drew level late on, but we should’ve killed the game off at 2-0; gone for that third goal and taken all three points, but we just haven’t got the minerals.

3) Our Midfield Titans

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. One positive I noticed from last night (having missed the last few games) was how good Darren Pratley looks next to Karl Henry.

He’s literally a new player. Don’t get me wrong, he’s by no means perfect, but the DP of September seems long gone with an experienced pro like Henry alongside him. Long may it continue.

4) Ben Alnwick

Despite conceding a shite first goal, I thought Alnwick was outstanding last night. He made a couple of really good saves and looked solid throughout.

I wasn’t sure about him or Howard at the start of the season but I think he’s slowly starting to become my favourite of the two. Must be nice to know you have a team on an unbeaten run in front of you.

5) Gary Madine, not a goal machine

Big Gaz got some criticism from those sat around me last night but I have to admit, I don’t agree with it.

Although he didn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking, I think he was in the right place in the right time, at lot of the time. 99% of you will disagree, but I don’t care.

If he didn’t play you’d all moan how bad we were up front (even worse than you think now) so let’s just agree to disagree.

Tough test coming up on Saturday. Let’s hope we can get a result.

COYWM