Bolton Wanderers lose more points in injury-time than 91% of English clubs

We all know that feeling all too well, conceding a last minute goal that denies you all three points or secures the opposition a win just as you were settling in for a draw.

Indeed, Bolton Wanderers have lost more points through goals conceded beyond 90 minutes than 91% of clubs in the top four tiers of English football over the last five seasons, according to research from betting firm SportingBet.

The study, which looked at the average goals scored and conceded by teams based on 38-match seasons, reveals that Bolton have lost eight points per season over that timeframe. That ratio was only exceeded by seven other English clubs: Scunthorpe United (19), Derby County (17), West Ham United, Colchester United and Portsmouth (all 15), Carlisle United (11) and Northampton Town (10).

However, the study also shows that Bolton actually benefited from late goals over the five-year period as the goal difference ratio of late goals scored exceeded late goals conceded by 0.21. That plants us firmly in mid-table in The Championship.

Vital late goals

It’s all well and good scoring late consolations, but Bristol Rovers are the team that make theirs count more than any other English club - gaining an impressive 20 points per season through goals scored beyond 90 minutes.

They’re closely followed by Tottenham Hotspur on 19, then Shrewsbury Town on 17, Swindon Town on 15 and Burton Albion on 14.

Late goal beneficiaries

Peterborough United have scored more late goals than any other side in England over the last five seasons, averaging around 6.5 per campaign. However, their goal difference of goals scored compared to goals conceded pales into significance compared to the Premier League big boys.

Arsenal have benefited from late goals than any other English team over the last five years. They average scoring just over six goals a season beyond 90 minutes at a goal difference of 3.82, on which they’re unsurprisingly followed closely by Manchester City (3.4) and Tottenham (2.97).

The nearest non-Premier League challengers to that are Peterborough, whose goal difference ratio of 2.56 pushes them narrowly ahead of Wycombe Wanderers (2.53), Sheffield Wednesday (2.51), Grimsby Town (2.45) and Luton Town (2.11).

Meanwhile, Manchester United, long famed for their Fergie Time joy, appear to have dropped down the list post-Alex Ferguson to just fourth in the Premier League with a goal difference of 1.49.

Leaky late defences

Gillingham have conceded more late goals than any other club in England, averaging seven goals leaked beyond 90 minutes over the last five years. However, they’ve also scored the second most in the country to counter that, averaging 6.25 goals scored per season.

Aston Villa are well and truly planted to the bottom of the Football League in terms of late goals scored vs late goals conceded, with a goal difference of -4.09. That’s as a result of only being able to score around 1.25 injury time goals per season, compared to conceding just over five on average.

Closely following them are Northampton on ,as a result of conceding close to 6.5 goals beyond 90 minutes per season, compared to scoring less than three on average. Crewe Alexandra (-3.21), Cardiff City (3.13) - who concede just under seven injury-time goals per season, Hull City (3.08), Stevenage Borough (2.95) and Crawley Town (2.34).

An eye for late goals

No prizes for guessing which player has scored more goals than any other in injury-time over the last five seasons. Yep, Harry Kane has bagged eight, scoring a late goal every 12.3 appearances.

He’s closely followed by Alexis Sanchez, Birmingham City’s Ramallo Jota (formerly of Brentford) and Peterborough’s Jack Marriott, who all have seven goals in injury-time. However, the duo of Jota and Marriott have much better ratios of 10.1 and 10.6 respectively than Kane and Sanchez (12.4). Two further players, Bury’s Chris Maguire (formerly of Oxford United) and AFC Wimbledon’s Cody McDonald (formerly of Gillingham), also have seven injury-time goals over the last five seasons but at much higher appearances per goal ratios of 20.4 and 20.9 respectively.

Closely following all of them with six goals beyond 90 minutes are Olivier Giroud, Danny Rose of Mansfield and John Akinde of Barnet.

To see all the results in full, check out the research here.