RATINGS: Bristol City 2-1 Bolton Wanderers

It has been quite the week in the world of Bolton Wanderers as chairman Ken Anderson has allowed the world in to the madness that we call reality.

We had a match at the end of it too - which was a welcome distraction.

So, friends, RATINGS:

Ben Alnwick - 5

Bristol City peppered his goal and it was a surprise, by the end, that they only scored two. I suspect he’ll be disappointed with the first goal which crept into his near post at the pace of a Josh Vela sprint.

Pavel Olkowski - 5

Early season talk of Pav being our new hero seems a long time ago now. It’s not that he’s playing particularly poorly, he’s just become so anonymous. Neither great nor awful, he’s just there and that’s disappointing.

David Wheater - 5

Again was led a merry dance by lively attackers. Not sure how he continues to be so important to Parkinson when he hasn’t had a good game in months.

Mark Beevers - 5

Same really.

Jonathan Grounds - 4

Good grief.

Luke Murphy - 6

Some tidy passing and half decent tackles. I still can’t fathom why Parky banished him to the naughty step for so long when he’s clearly the best midfielder we have.

Jason Lowe - 5

Not great. At one stage in the second half he trapped a ball further than most men can kick it. Another forgettable performance in a Bolton career full of them. Seemingly immune from being dropped and this is symbolic of how comfortable we have become with underachievement from our players. Just not good enough in any capacity.

Will Buckley - 4

Gets a couple of points for the ball skidding off his foot for our goal, but other than that was atrocious as usual. Had the temerity - after 18 months of being absolutely shocking for the club - to cup his ears towards the fans when he scored. There’s a reason why people think you’re absolute mince, Will, and it’ll take more than a scruffy goal in a game that you did absolutely nowt in (again) to change our minds.

Craig Noone - 5

Another anonymous performance. Was put back on the right after last week’s success on the left but that’s no excuse for what has become a customary disappointment.

Sammy Ameobi - 5

We need more. He’s our best and most creative player but he’s just so inconsistent. I get that’s the reason why he’s here and not at a higher-ranked club but against Bristol Sammy was poor and I would be lying to you if I said that this was anything other than a regular occurrence.

Josh Magennis - 5

Yes he was starved of any real service but we needed someone to hold the ball up and Josh just wasn’t up to it. Unfortunately his presence in the team was demanded as a result of his hat-trick in the Cup last week but this was another showing which laid bare his lack of actual threat to better defences. His customary effort was somewhat lacking too which was disappointing.

SUBS

Clayton Donaldson, Josh Vela, Lloyd Dyer - N/A

As usual. Not good enough.

MANAGER

Phil Parkinson — 3

I’m sure he’s a nice guy but he should have gone months ago. Lucky for him he works in an absolute basket-case of a club.

It seems to me that he never learns from the previous game and has too much faith in the same players - to our detriment. Time to go (again).