We don’t have a lot of luck at Bolton’s stadium, but the good news is, I doubt we’ll have to play there next season.
It’s been almost 40 years since we won when visiting the Trotters, and we never really looked like breaking that duck today. It’s been 13 years since we lost on the opening day of the season, so I guess we were due a defeat. When the fixtures came out, this always looked like a huge test, and so it came to pass. it was a big test, one that we failed.
As is all too familiar to Imps supporters, the team news was all about who wasn’t playing. Painfully, I said in my analysis this week that we looked susceptible to a couple of injuries, and that’s exactly why we ended up with Sean Roughan at left back and Tyler Walker starting. We know Walker isn’t on 90 minutes yet, and still, he had to start as Reeco Hackett was only meant to play 30. Jaden Brown, our left back throughout pre-season, is injured, meaning we had to shuffle the back three and push Roughan out to left back. Many were applauding what looked like a 3-5-2 from the start, a curveball from the boss, but I feel it was an enforced line-up as a result of horrible luck from the off. Also, it was much more like a normal 3-4-3.
No excuses, by the way. I’m not saying for one second that is why we lost the game, it isn’t. We lost the game as we failed to defend two set pieces. It’s that simple. I’ve seen plenty of Bolton fans crowing about how good they were, but when you strip it back, they scored two simple set pieces and one enforced own goal. I didn’t feel we were ever going to concede more, and there was only a short period where I felt they looked much better than us. It would be crass to say the game was even; it wasn’t, but what would you expect from a trip to title favourites on the opening day?
The game started about as badly as it could with a simple goal for former Cambridge man Jack Iredale. Frustratingly, it didn’t look like a corner that led to the goal, but them’s the breaks. We were great at defending set pieces last season, and yet it was a free header for the defender to put us 1-0 down after four minutes. Bolton didn’t have to be good to take the lead and that is a crying shame. Nobody expected to be five minutes into the season and have two key players injured and giving goals away for free.
I thought we responded well enough, considering we’d barely had a kick before they scored. Ben House fired into the side netting, and Lasse, looking decent at wing-back, managed a cross that evaded the striker. However, chances were always going to be few and far between, and whilst I expected a game much like Ipswich away last season, I didn’t expect it with us being 1-0 down so early. It took a bit of pressure off Bolton, and maybe they never really needed to get out of third gear. They’ll not be gifted an opener as easily against most sides this season.
I’m not saying we were the better side; obviously not. I didn’t think they looked that special either – the rest of the first half was just a bit beige. They were better, yes, but at no point before half time did I think they’d get a second, nor us a leveller. It was all a bit flat from both teams, The focus for me was on the new rules for officials, and whilst Will Finnie is a ref I like I felt he was a little inconsistent with some decisions. There was an obvious foul on Ben House, a booking I felt, and it was House who got booked for dissent. Now, that’s partially the right call, referees are under instruction to book players for that, but we’re going to see a lot of moments this season where a fouled player is booked, and the perpetrator of the foul is not. Is that the right way to go about managing a game? I’m not sure. I’m told referees are to allow a slightly more physical approach, and that was evident when Mandroiu was fouled on the edge of the area in a good position, but nothing was given. Then, Eyoma fouls Adeboyejo on the halfway line, less obvious than on Mandroiu, and he gets a yellow. They’re not game-changing moments, but as a fan, it felt a little frustrating.
In midfield, Erhahon and Hamilton started well, considering the latter only joined last week, and Lasse looked inventive at wing-back. Sean Roughan looked like a centre-half playing at left-back, and I felt for him a bit. His preferred position is the left side of the defence, he’s played there all pre-season, and then on the eve of the new campaign, he has to shift. We certainly didn’t have the same composure down the left as we did down the right, which left us feeling a little unbalanced at times. We didn’t lack endeavour or application, but against one of the top sides in the division, it was evident.
Speaking of Lasse, his battle with Williams down their defensive right was fascinating. Lasse won’t come up against many better players this season – Williams is a beast and someone I’ve admired since his Exeter days, and yet I never felt Lasse was overawed. He’s a right back now, something I didn’t think I’d be saying nine months ago. In the same vein, I thought TJ had a decent first half as well, and he’s definitely a right-sided centre-back, just like Roughan on the other side of defence. Overall, when you consider the attacking players Bolton has, I felt our back three coped well. I don’t recall a moment when Charles or Adeboyejo got in on goal, which surely says we did well in that part of the field.
The best chance for either side to score came for the home side, Randell Williams, a player once linked with Lincoln, heading over when he should have hit the target. Still, at half time I felt we could nick a goal and, despite having a reshuffled back three, I didn’t feel we’d been under undue pressure. I’ve seen some Bolton fans crowing about possession etc, but aside from the goal we gifted them, I don’t think they had anything they could point to as a serious chance in the first half. For the opening day against pre-season favourites, I was quite happy.
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