End Of Season Review: November

Welcome back to another instalment of our review of Bolton Wanderers’ 2016/17 season.

November, a month which saw Wanderers back on track having followed up October’s success which helped make September’s blip seem a distant memory. Having regained the fan’s backing, the Whites, full of hope, went into the month’s first game, an FA cup tie against Grimsby Town. A Liam Trotter goal sent Wanderers fans home happy and earned Bolton a place in the draw for the second round. The draw produced a home fixture against promotion rivals Sheffield United, giving the visitors another chance to bring the other 764 million fans which were turned away at the door back in August.

Next up was a completely irrelevant ‘Checkatrade Trophy’ fixture against Cheltenham Town which ended up in a narrow 1-0 defeat on the night, apparently.

Despite this ending our seven game win streak, Phil Parkinson and Zach Clough respectively picked October’s manager and player of the month accolades.

The following week, news broke that young prodigy Alex Samizadeh had moved to Chorley on a temporary work experience contract, much to the dismay of those who had dubbed him ‘the next big thing’. Come the weekend, Bolton travelled to Peterborough for a televised game on Sunday lunchtime which saw a flukey long range Posh goal catch sub ‘keeper Ben Alnwick off guard to earn the hosts the spoils.

On the next Tuesday night, Wanderers faced Millwall for the second time in the space of a month which resulted in the Whites taking all six points, on this occasion, Josh Vela and Tom Thorpe goals either side of the break gave Bolton the win.

The jam-packed month didn't just come in the form of fixtures as the fan’s Q&A originally scheduled for later that week ended up being postponed due to outstanding financial matters that needed settling at the earliest possible opportunity.

Back on the pitch, Wanderers faced Coventry under the lights at the Macron on the 22nd, a single Zach Clough goal proved enough to take all three points. The next Saturday’s away fixture vs Northampton mirrored the Coventry game, another Zach Clough masterclass won us the final game of the month.

The month was rounded off by some rather worrying news that Wanderers faced administration once again following a board room issue which was then quickly settled and Wanderers fought to live another day. The final day of the month ensured Wanderers went into the festive period on a high as the club announced that the players had been payed for the month and could look forward to what proved to be some extremely decisive games in the season coming up between Christmas and New Year.

Stay tuned for December’s edition, it’s a good’un... promise.