South of the border. A trip away to Stevenage, Tues 29th Oct, 19-45.

[sonicthewhite]

Great win. Up to 6th!

[brommers95]

Well done lads and well done Evatt, a great result. Stevenage have beaten Charlton, Wrexham, Barnsley and Mansfield this season so they’re certainly no mugs.

League table makes for good reading this evening, we’re right back in the mix. Let’s keep this thing rolling.

[officer_dibble]

Arfield is a terrible footballer.

Tonight’s the first time I’ve seen him and thought he’s actually done a decent job. Came on when we were under a bit of pressure, but showed for the ball, and generally held on to it quite well. Nothing outstanding, but I think he helped settle things down a bit.

When he came on I thought this was exactly the kind of situation we would see him in. Did a good job tonight.

[The_Gun]

Yeah Arfield did his job tonight.

I think everyone in a Bolton shirt played pretty well tonight, but Santos was my MOTM, closely followed by Matete. Forrester also impressed when he came on.

[truewhite15]

Another baffling decision to not give Charles a free kick at the death.

Good performance, good win. Rico excellent. Charles can come on as sub every game from now on, for me. So dangerous against tiring legs.

I just hope we actually have turned a corner this time, and we don't end up with another sickening back-to-earth jolt like against Shrews and Villa...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

[Harry Genshaw]

Ref was shocking. A little disappointed with Collins but the rest of them, excellent. Big shout out to the subs, Forrester, Lolos and especially Charles who all put a great shift in.

[Spartan2]

I listened to the Stevenage commentary for a little while, the sourest of sour grapes, you should have heard them, referee one sided, Bolton nothing special, top 10 at best, Stevenage just didn't take their chances.

We're still not at the level I expect nor the level we'll need to be to get promoted, but, a decent performance and a great result. Can't really be bothered moaning about what's right and wrong. Hopefully we're slowly getting better each game rather than just having a random good spell against poor opposition.

[Worthy4England]

All in all, a grand evening's work.

[Spartan2]

Oh and Charles is in the best form of his Bolton career, unreal.

[sonicthewhite]

Oh and Charles is in the best form of his Bolton career, unreal.

And mostly as a sub at the moment

[officer_dibble]

Ref wasn’t great, but he didn’t influence the result either way. We can’t argue with aouthwood getting booked he time wasted a few times tonight.

Great result that though - they are a strong team big lads and we didn’t wilt under the pressure at all. The midfield held up - apart from when it disappeared for their goal! But that’s fine at 3-0 up! Fingers crossed the Toal standard 6 weeks out doesn’t hurt us. We really are bare bones at the back now.

[BorsdaneWhite]

Vic got his goal and it was well-taken, and, atm, Charles looks a ruthless banshee off the bench. Not sure how long that would continue in terms of permed ego.

Aside from everything else, two other pomegranate positives: McAtee’s finish after the two missed at Brum plus his exultant celebration; Cogley with a quality assist—perfect weight, and with a touch of elevation to beat the defender’s toe.

Lots I missed. Would love to know how others found Sheehan and Matete. Word on the Tweet is that they were impressive.

[Prufrock]

That was very good.

Whisper it...

Though Toal will be a big miss.

[TANGODANCER]

In time, all that will be remembered is Stevenage 1, Bolton 4. That's really all that matters.

When you consider the players missing through injury, we're not actually badly placed at all. I just wish that Cup games took place in Summer and didn't disrupt the League. On the lighter side, how long does it take to change a bedsheet into a flag? 90 minutes

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Though Toal will be a big miss.

He will, as Forrester is a different type of player. In a way it would have been better to have Forino coming in, but as noted above, Forrester needs a run in the team to show his worth. He had a run of five games last autumn when Rico did a hammy - DWWWL - but that loss, at home to Carlisle, cost him his place (to be fair it was followed by an international break, Rico got fit and Gethin had served his suspension). After that he was more in than out, with a knee and hammy injuries plus the loaning of Caleb Taylor all blocking his path.

[officer_dibble]

Forester is another who seems injury prone to me. We've let Iredale go and now we’ve got Toal and Forino out probably for a month, Jones has disappeared. So we need to keep Fortester, Santos and Johnston fit. I’d even go as far as letting Inwood start at the weekend for whichever one of those needs a rest.

There is an update here - https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... y-outcome/

First time I’ve seen them acknowledge Tutus absence being a lot longer than 6 weeks.

[DJBlu]

Just seen McAtees goal. If he meant to do that then that's outstanding.

Can't wait until this team becomes confident.

IESWA.

[truewhite15]

Wonder whether we'll be taking an active look at free-agent centre backs now, given our injury crisis there. It'd need to be someone who had been training somewhere at a fairly high standard, though, considering that otherwise it'd take said free -agent until the new year to be anywhere near fit!

[Mar]

Wonder whether we'll be taking an active look at free-agent centre backs now, given our injury crisis there. It'd need to be someone who had been training somewhere at a fairly high standard, though, considering that otherwise it'd take said free -agent until the new year to be anywhere near fit!

Would have to imagine that would be the case. I suspect the free agent market might be more problematic given those out of contract won't be playing at a high level, or have fitness issues.

Maybe scouting the non-league market might be worth a crack to see if we can unearth a diamond in the rough style Santos type player. How's our B-team defenders looking?