‘Here Come The Happy Clappers’ – Bolton Wanderers Fans React To Imps Win

January 3, 2025 Gary Bolton, League One, Lincoln City, Matches, Opposition View 0

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Bolton managed to get back to winning ways on Sunday after an inconsistent run of form throughout the last month. Wanderer’s boss, Ian Evatt, reacted post-match alongside Trotters’ fans online.

The game started in Bolton’s favour as they applied some pressure and won a few corners early on. One of which resulted in Reeco Hackett clearing the ball away almost off the goal line.

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However, after the ten-minute mark, the Imps grew into the game and matched Bolton, which resulted in a difficult chance for Ben House. He was stretching for it as Bolton’s keeper Baxter charged towards him to try to block the shot which was enough to put him off. Because of that, he could only poke the ball over the bar. Bolton fans shared their annoyance as it happened:

The mood changed near the end of the first half for the Trotters and their fans as the first goal of the game was fired in from a distance. It started from a Paudie O’Connor mistake, he hesitated whilst in possession and is then arguably fouled by Matete. However, that’s up for debate as it’s hard to tell whether he gets any of the ball or not. O’Connor’s clearance is skewed and lands at the feet of Toal. He then plays a pass to Collins, who travels to near the edge of the box and hits a strike from 25 yards, which bounces over the outstretched Wickens and goes in off the post.

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Bolton manager Ian Evatt shared his thoughts on this and his side’s first half performance in his interview post-match;

“The first half was a lot more like us, we moved the ball, they (Lincoln) are really well coached defensively, they have a really good block and they wait for triggers. But we moved them about, we probed. We got into some good positions and didn’t quite find that final pass, but there was a reason there were five or six yellow cards for them in the first half. “They were getting fatigued, they were getting worked and it was a lot more like us.”

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That gave Bolton an arguably undeserved lead going in to half time and that wasn’t the only advantage they gained before the second half began. Erhahon had been booked for dissent a couple of minutes before the first half ended. Then, after the half ended he decided to have an argument with the referee which saw him get a second yellow and be given his marching orders.

Ian Evatt felt this moment didn’t really change the game though as he said this in his post-match interview;

“The sending off clearly helps, but it doesn’t change their organisation. It just makes it a little bit easier to lock the game out and make sure that we can sustain attacks.”

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The second half played into Bolton’s hands after the sending-off and going 1-0 up. They went 1-0 up within five minutes of the restart. Bolton went short from a corner and Lolos and Schon interchanged a few passes between one another as they worked it inside. Lolos then flicked it on to Matete on the edge of the box who hit a shot from the edge of the area which was heading off target. Unfortunately for City, it hit O’Connor on the way through, which deflected it past a stranded Wickens and into the net. However, frustration towards manager Evatt was a consistent theme from a good portion of the fans throughout their reactions to the game online:

There was nothing fortunate about Bolton’s third goal, though. They had an extended spell of possession in the build-up, playing one-touch football around our area. Schon then had the ball on the left side of Lincoln’s area, travelled inside the area with it, and played it to Matete. He played a 1-2 with Johnston, and Matete then hit a shot that hit O’Connor but spun back into his path, and he rifled it into the back of the net.

Evatt reflected on the goals and the second half in his interview;

“Second half, I thought we did that really well. Obviously, we got two more goals and should have had another – I think Dion’s at the end was clearly onside. A lot of positives but we are not getting carried away.”

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Later in the game, Matete hit a brilliant strike from 25 yards which rattled the post and Dion Charles had a goal disallowed which showed that Bolton could’ve had more than three. Fortunately for them it didn’t matter, as the game was pretty much over before the second half kicked off. Contempt continued as a consistent theme even after the match towards Evatt from some of the fans. This is due to the first half performance, the inconsistency in results, frustration with style and players, things like that.

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Ian Evatt also acknowledged some of the same frustration that the fans have about their inconsistency this season as he said;

“If you want to build momentum, we don’t want to have to keep responding, even though we do- We can’t keep undoing our good work, we have two difficult away games coming up next week. We have to go there and get points- We are chasing our tails, we are chasing the ones ahead of us but teams have dropped points, and that happens at this time of year. We need to build on what we have seen today but lots of positives.”