I CAN’T for the life of me see how we lost to Sunderland on Saturday.

It wasn’t the best of performances but, when Ivan Klasnic equalised late on, I was convinced the boys were going to get at least the point they deserved for their efforts – after all they had created seven or eight quality scoring chances.

Then when that chance fell to Kevin Davies deep into injury time and he caught it with a sweet and powerful volley, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking we’d banked all three points.

How unlucky can you be that one minute the ball is deflected over the bar at one end and the next it’s crossing the line at the other?

Not surprisingly everybody was pig sick – not so much with the performance as the result, which made it three successive defeats and left some people suggesting the season was petering out.

But I think there is still something to play for in the last two games – at Blackpool then at home to Manchester City.

We’ve been in the top half for most of the season and a top-10 finish has got to be our target.

One win will do it and I fancy that can come at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

Blackpool are obviously one of a large group of clubs down there who are still fighting for their Premier League lives and they’ll be no pushovers.

Actually I hope they stay up.

They deserve to because of the way they have approached life in the Premiership, always being prepared to play football and attack teams.

Manager Ian Holloway has done a great job there.

And if they do manage to survive that’s another fairly local game for us.

I would much rather be going to Blackpool again next season rather than down to London to play West Ham – and that’s no disrespect to the Hammers because I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for them.

AFTER what happened to us in the semi-final I can’t get too excited about the FA Cup final.

I might not even watch it at all.

My mate always has a barbecue on cup final Saturday and it’s become a bit of a tradition that we watch the match, but I think this time I’ll give it a miss and take next door’s dog for a walk instead. I wouldn’t enjoy watching it, knowing that we were so close to being there.

Anyway I think it’s a bit of a let-down this season with Premier League games being played on the same day – all because Wembley is staging the Champions League final.

That’s wrong.

The FA Cup final is traditionally the last game of the domestic season and I don’t think it’s right that tradition has to play second fiddle to the big money European competition.

For the record, my heart wants Stoke City to win it – being one of my old clubs – but my head tells me it’s going to be Manchester City’s year.

PREMIER League footballers might have a reputation for being big-time celebrities but there was nothing big time about Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Davies taking part in the One Bolton One 5km race on Sunday.

Jussi ran the event while Davo walked the course with his wife Emma and their kids.

Well done the pair of them for giving their support to a worthwhile cause.

But, of course, it is not the first time and it will not be the last that the lads put their weight behind worthy fundraisers.

NOSTALGIA will be the name of the game on May 17, when Carl Davenport – a former Wanderers player turned author – signs copies of his book at Bolton Central Library from 1pm to 2.30pm.

I’ve met Carl a few times and while he made only limited appearances for the club, he has a lot of interesting tales to tell about the old days and the old players.

I love reading about the game and I am always interested in hearing about what went on here at Bolton before I arrived.

ON a sad note, Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association has lost one of its most prominent and long-serving members, Tom Hodgkinson, who died recently.

Tom was an active and enthusiastic figure at the BWSA and the sympathies of everyone at Bolton Wanderers go out to his family.