On a rare summer’s afternoon, another big crowd trudged down to the Toughsheet for the first Community match of the season.

For my part, I was to view the match from a different perspective as I had been invited into the Lion of Vienna Suite. We gathered shortly after midday in comfortable surroundings for pre-match drinks and a bite to eat from an excellent menu.

The crispy chicken masala went down a treat as we discussed the week’s events. The brilliant Carabao Cup draw, taking us to the Emirates to face Arsenal had got everyone buzzing and plotting how to be there.

Also, the end of the transfer window provided plenty of opinions in our Guinness gleanings. The board have been seen to back Ian Evatt and it now remains for him to come up with the goods.

It was also a pleasure to meet the large team of Irish Whites, who had cycled all the way from Donegal to Bolton, in aid of the two respective hospices. A magnificent effort. Our seats were in the Upper East stand, affording us a brilliant view of the proceedings.

Ian Evatt made a couple of changes, bringing in Chris Forino and Szarbolcs Schon. After a minute’s applause for Sven Goran Erickson, the referee blew his whistle and the day deteriorated rapidly.

We started brightly for maybe the first 10 minutes but then we ran out of ideas. We were awful. We conceded from set pieces, a well taken free kick and from a corner. In comparison, our creativity was at a premium. When did we last score from a free kick or from a corner? The Grecians fully deserved their win.

It would be easy to write this off as a bad day in the office but in reality we have had a bad start to the season.

The fans are restless and while I do not condone the booing at half-time and full-time, I can understand it. We need something to lift expectations that we can respond to the disappointments of last season.

It is still early days but any more of these clueless performances will have us battling at the wrong end of League 1.

Most of the new players look promising but we have to find a way for them to play together and get into a potent force. At the moment, we look miles away from that scenario.