Bolton Wanderers fans' column: Straight From the Stands

It doesn't have to be perfect,

by Liam Hatton

IT was not pretty, at times, and it was by no means comfortable, but two games and two wins since last week’s article is good news.

Credit to Port Vale and Stevenage, respectively, who both posed stern tests for Wanderers. The Vale result saw Bolton dominate the first half and for all their time in possession, should have gone into the break more than one goal to the good.

So that may have got some fans hot under the collar as the second half was mostly Vale asking the questions, which could have been another case of Bolton not putting a game out of sight and being made to suffer.

On this occasion it was not to be, with Dion Charles’ super solo run and strike courtesy of his weaker foot proving to be the difference maker.

Steve Evans turned up the pressure a little bit earlier this week by waxing lyrical about Bolton. He said that the owners are having a good go at promotion and labelled Wanderers as ‘arguably’ champions elect.

Call it a siege mentality or whatever you like, but you have to tip your cap to Stevenage who really matched Bolton’s gameplan and stopped Ian Evatt’s possession-based play for the majority of the game.

Randell Williams alluded to the result and how this year’s team is ready to deal with digging out results when things are not going their way.

“Credit to the boys. I think Tuesday was a game we would have lost last year,” Williams said to The Bolton News. “So whether it is physical or technical, getting it over the line is the most important thing, and we did.”

I have said it before, but these are the types of games you need to win if you want to be considered for automatics, and by ‘these types of games’ I do not mean opponents like Port Vale and Stevenage.

Of course, you fancy your chances against the aforementioned, but those types of fixtures when things are not going Bolton’s way have often been their downfall.

Everything is rosy when Bolton are allowed the lion’s share of possession and can probe all game long, but the mentality shift when teams stop the press or when they struggle to break down an opponent’s shape was an issue last year.

That man Charles opened the scoring on Tuesday, which now makes it five goals in his last six league games and seven in League One for the season. Whisper it quietly, but he is well on his way to the 20-goal mark again, and we are still in October.

Jack Iredale was omnipresent in this game - winning the penalty, scoring and assisting for Josh Sheehan’s third goal. It was a brilliant display and I feel he needed a game like that after coming in for some recent criticism.

So, whilst it was hardly perfect, you are not getting perfection in October, and I honestly do not think Evatt will ever accept a performance as ‘perfect’, with little things always ready to be worked on in training.

However, it is two wins, and it keeps Bolton at the right end of the table. Today’s game against Carlisle may well follow the same script in terms of needing to grind out a result, but if it is another three points then who are we to complain?

Jurgen Klopp called for Liverpool's game against Tottenham to be replayed after a VAR error (Image: PA)

It's all going too VAR,

by Tony Thompson

LET’S be honest, if this week’s VAR cock-up would have happened in a game between Burnley and Bournemouth, it would hardly have got a mention.

Instead, every time I have switched on the radio or the telly this week I have had to endure someone else’s histrionics on the subject because it was Liverpool.

I have some sympathy for Jurgen Klopp, the referee had a poor game on the pitch, and the VAR team had an absolute nightmare in whatever comfy chair they were sat. But can you imagine having the audacity to say a game should be replayed because an official made a mistake?

The error probably cost his team a point and in several months you might be able to put a price tag on it… But couldn’t every single club in the land look back and point at a decision which has cost them points and cash down the years? Bolton Wanderers certainly could.

Barry Knight cost them Eidur Gudjohnsen and Claus Jensen in 1999, Stephen Lodge cost them a win against Everton and ultimately survival in the Premier League in 1997/98, and Chris Foy’s poor decisions cost them in 2012 at Stoke City – a day which if you took it to the nth degree also accelerated administration, near extinction and a drop to the bottom division in the EFL. Top that Jurgen!

While it would be lovely to drag Paul Warhurst, Mike Whitlow and Paul Ritchie out of retirement and have them play the whole 90 minutes at Portman Road again (how is Mr Knight these days, by the way?) it is part of the contract you sign when you get involved in this ridiculous game. Every once in a while someone will make an error that makes your blood boil.

You can vent – and Big Sam most certainly did – you can look back with anger – tick – but once it has happened you can’t change it. Them are the rules.

As it happened to one of the big clubs the whole issues has been blown out of all proportion and the poor technical advisors have been hauled over hot coals for what was just a communication mix up.

They happen all the time. The other night Mrs T shouted in from the kitchen for me to close the garage door, I thought she said answer the front door. It was a whole wrong door thing.

Should we get rid of VAR altogether? I don’t think so. It is right more often than not but being right doesn’t fill air time or column inches, so we only really dwell on the negative stuff.

Anyway, having thought about Barry Knight for the first time in a few years I’m heading to the gym to batter a punch-bag. The two things are totally unconnected, of course.