Andy Munro sees Blues go down to Bolton Wanderers.
I suppose it had to happen at some time but the manner of Blues’ defeat away to play-off contenders Bolton Wanderers was disappointing and perhaps a bit alarming. However, next Saturday will tell whether it was a one-off blip perhaps caused by tiredness after a run of congested games.
In fairness, Blues started off well with Taylor Gardner-Hickman squaring for Emil Hansson to finish superbly. Unfortunately this was by far Hansson’s best moment as he seemed reluctant to take on his full-back. Gardner-Hickman on the other hand was excellent going forward but poor in equal measure defensively as he was given the runaround by the Bolton winger
Christoph Klarer and Ben Davies particularly were fairly solid but behind them Bailey Peacock- Farrell, yet again, was culpable for Bolton’s opener as he was too easily beaten at the near post. Manager Chris Davies disagreed but, of course, with no other genuine keeper options due to injury, the last thing he wants to do is to destroy Peacock-Farrell’s confidence.
In midfield both Paik-Seung ho and Tomoki Iwata worked hard but both struggled, along with everybody else in the second period. Willum Willumsson continued his recent run of mediocre games whilst Alfie May never really looked like ending his barren run. Hopefully Jay Stansfield will quickly get up to speed but we are badly missing Keshi Anderson and one wonders whether we were right to send out our young Japanese winger when he could have provided some spark as a substitute.
A word for the excellent away support, who gave their all in terms of noise. However Saturday will be a key game against a Lincoln City side boosted by a good midweek win.
