“What Was He Thinking?” – All The Bolton Reaction To Imps Encounter

October 2, 2022 Gary Bolton, League One 0

Credit Graham Burrell

We’re trialling a new feature where we look at the reaction from the opposition after a game, their manager, players, fans and that sort of thing.

This is the first one, and hopefully, after today, Samuel Rowson will be picking them up. Please do give us feedback on the piece and let us know if it is a worthy addition to the coverage.

Ian Evatt Reaction

Evatt was understandably happy with the result, explaining to the Manchester Evening News he felt they’d lacked the execution to break us down.

“I thought we created quite a few chances considering and it was just our last bit of detail and our last bit of execution again that let us down. We probed and we carried on getting loads of final third entries we just didn’t at times have that bit of quality or execution to really break them down. Having said that, we should have had a stonewall penalty second half. I think the penalty definitely is one second half and we’ve missed some good chances as well.”

In the Bolton Evening News he added: “They surprised us today coming here and going 5-4-1 and playing in that low block,” he said. “It is sometimes really challenging to break down but I thought we created quite a few chances considering. It was just our last bit of detail and execution that let us down.

“But I thought the way we controlled the game was really good. I thought our defensive responsibility from one to 11 was first class. They were looking to play in transition and on the counter attack, and I think we limited them to very little. Obviously, just the set-piece chance second half and Traff was called upon right at the end. It shows he was fully invested and concentrated for 90 minutes because that is the last minute when the game is pretty much over anyway.

Credit Graham Burrell

Neil Hair

It turns out Ian Evatt and the referee have some previous. After a game against Tranmere, Evatt and the Trotters reported Hair to the FA. However, Evatt added they have had him since, and they already settled their differences. “We had him at Cheltenham away last year and as soon as he saw me, he came up to me and apologised and said, ‘I made mistakes’. “We all make mistakes, we all do. I had so much respect for him that day for coming up and owning it and saying, ‘I apologise, I made mistakes, I am striving to be better’. That is what we all want, so credit to him.”

Evatt told the Bolton News that the fourth official told him the communication between the assistant referee and Neil Hair was going on. “To be fair to the linesman, he said to me straight away, ‘Ian stay calm because I can hear the comms and I can hear what is developing here’, please just wait and let us get the decision right’. I have got to say the linesman my side today was first-class with his communication.”

Credit Graham Burrell

Fan Reaction

Also, in the Bolton News, Trotters fan Adam Houghton gave his view of the game. It’s a decent read, but he said this of the Imps.

“Lincoln soon set their stall out in that they were going to defend en-masse and try and hit us on the break. It would be up to us to break them down and take any chances that came our way. Most of the first half was a game of attack and defence with us doing the attacking, but mostly failing to create clear-cut chances. However, that changed when Elias Kachunga went down for the umpteenth time in the box and the referee gave the penalty, apparently on advice from his assistant referee. It looked a soft penalty but some you win and some you lose.”

He thought we improved after half time, as most people did.

“Lincoln improved a bit in the second half as they had to come at us, and James Trafford was equal to anything thrown at him. Nowadays, we have a strong bench, and it was one of the substitutes, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, who wrapped up the game late on. It was a hard-earned win after yet another physical battle.”

 

Twitter Reaction

Bolton Penalty

The first big moment was the penalty, initially not given by Neil Hair but then awarded after the assistant referee intervened. One Bolton fan, @jenky1979 believes there’s nothing wrong with going to ground to show you’ve been fouled; it’s a fair shout.

Roughan Mistake

The second goal came from Sean Roughan’s bizarre throw-in, something @andybroomeBWFC picked up on. In fairness, Sean held his hands up after the game, and that will be the last of it.

https://twitter.com/andybroomeBWFC/status/1576523732247408641

Late Bolton Save

James Trafford made a super save in the final moments from Matty Virtue, one of the few chances of goal for either team. It appears the young keeper, on loan from Manchester City nis very popular and whilst his late save didn’t mean a great amount, given we were 2-0 down, they certainly appreciated it.

Imps Fans

Finally, we took 782 to Bolton, a tough drive across the M62, and that was recognised by @motownwanderers who commended our supporters.