Tony Kelly: I've every sympathy with Klas

Those two bookings in the dramatic closing minutes of the Stoke game marred what was a brilliant weekend all round.

And I have every sympathy for the lad because it was his brilliantly-taken winning goal that should have been the abiding memory of his contribution – not his red card.

Ivan’s a goal machine, we’ve always known that, and he showed us yet again when he turned smartly to hit the matchwinner that he is a natural finisher.

And while he couldn’t really argue about his first booking – everyone knows you’re asking for trouble when you raise your hand to an opponent – I didn’t really blame him because he went in to stick up for Matty Taylor who was getting a bit of rough treatment. That’s team spirit and you can’t knock that.

I couldn’t understand the second booking though.

For me, he jumped to win the ball, but the referee, who I thought was poor all afternoon, saw it differently.

Not that we should be moaning after the lads turned in such a solid team performance to get a win against decent opponents and going up to seventh in the league. Fair play to Stoke, they came and had a go and we had to be very solid in the second half.

It was a fair result, though, and capped a great week for the club after Kevin Davies got his first England cap and earned some decent reviews for his contribution to the game against Montenegro. What a pity Gary Cahill didn’t get on . . . but, as we’ve said so often before, he’s got plenty of time to make his mark.

As a lifelong Everton fan, I was celebrating again after Sunday’s Merseyside derby, but I got no dinner as my mum and dad – both staunch Liverpool supporters – were sulking.

I might be going hungry but I’m enjoying the bragging rights.

OWEN Coyle showed the club’s youngsters precisely what he expects of them when he pulled the old boots on again and played in a reserve team game. The gaffer, still as fit as a fiddle and still with as much enthusiasm for the game as he ever had, named a few of the Academy kids in the team for a behind-closed-doors friendly against Stockport County – and sprang a bit of a surprise when he played the full 90 minutes himself. And I must admit I was impressed. He never gave the ball away once. You don’t get too many managers taking time out to work so closely with the young players but Coyley, pictured, believes in the Academy and has always said that if any of the young lads show they are good enough, he will have no hesitation in giving them a chance on a Saturday. The result is that we have a smashing group of kids at the club, where there is a good atmosphere and where they have generated a team spirit reminiscent of what we had when I was playing here in the early Nineties. That’s hardly surprising considering there are so many ex-players from that era who are running the show. Jimmy Phillips is the Academy manager, David Lee is head coach of the Under-18s, who I work with, and Nicky Spooner runs the Under-16s. And with the assurance coming from the top that the kids have a good future here, provided they put the work in, then it all adds up to a very encouraging situation for everyone involved with Wanderers. It’s a long-term project, of course, but it is already paying dividends with the U18s going back to the top of the league on Saturday after beating Blackburn 2-0 – young Jay Lynch keeping his fifth clean sheet of the season, which is a great credit to the work of goalkeeping coach Neil Edwards. We don’t just look at results or league tables. In fact the biggest boost we’ve had is having three of our youngsters in the international picture. Liam Irwin made his international debut with two substitute appearances for the Republic of Ireland U18s, Luke Woodland went on as sub for England U16s against Wales on Friday night and, although Graham McGregor wasn’t involved last week, he already has eight or nine caps for the Scotland U18s. So it’s not just the first-team players who are putting Bolton Wanderers on the international map – and that shows the future of the club is in good hands.