I’ve stayed away from social media, obviously, because I know my views on the standalone game last night do not align with a growing majority of the views expressed there.
When I analyse a game, I try to put it into the context of a single story within a season. Sometimes, a game means something as part of a wider run, and of course, given our recent run, another defeat does feel bad. However, watching this game as a standalone product, a one-off event unconnected to those before or after, the only thing I was not happy about last night was the result.
In all of the fanalysis I’ve read, There’s been a huge, glaring omission. I’ve seen plenty about us not scoring goals, looking toothless and playing badly (one out of three of those is correct, and even Meatloaf has two), but I haven’t seen an awful lot of criticism for the game’s major turning point, an incorrectly ruled out goal, disallowed in the most bizarre fashion. Let me tell you this for free – that moment was a mess, the officials got it wrong, and it’s cost us a place in the last 16.
It’s unusual because often, fans hide behind a decision or key moment as a reason for defeat, and yet on the most perfect night for excuses, where the Imps bossed yet another expensively-assembled side, it’s the one factor people almost seem to have missed. I’ll come onto it, but it was one of two mistakes which ensured Bolton fans have a few more weeks of Ian Evatt in charge. They should be careful about what they wish for, by the way, because, in my opinion, Ian Evatt is a good manager who has created a team so clever off the ball that they almost don’t need to be that good at it.
Both clubs put out strong sides, which is probably an indication of how both needed a win. Evatt is under pressure at Bolton, and while there’s not the same outright revolt at City, there’s a desperate need for goals and a win. I wonder if one thought the other might be weaker, hoping to get the advantage, but what it meant was we got a good workout and those who were there saw two League One quality starting XIs against each other. I feared for us at that moment and while the result didn’t go our way, I need not have worried too much about performance.
I’ll stand by what I’m going to write, just like I did after the Rotherham game, where I saw a bad performance, and I expressed that. Last night, in the first half, at least, I thought we played really well. We came out with an intensity, and we wanted to get shots away. There’s a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ because when we get the ball on the edge of the box, a cry of ‘shoot’ goes up, and when we do shoot and it misses, it’s a waste. We had 11 efforts in the first half and yes, it’s an issue none were on target, but you can see us trying to force that first goal from open play since December 21st. You can see us trying to move the ball a little quicker, and I wasn’t too despondent at all. This was a strong Bolton side, players we’ve been after in the past and rumoured to have missed out on like Dacres-Cogley and big name League One players like Adeboyejo and Collins.
We largely controlled the first half, had more shots, more touches in the box and, had two mistakes not swung the game, we’d have been 1-0 up and (in my opinion) confident in the second period. Instead, we got done by a sucker punch in a moment where almost all of Bolton’s first half xG came from. It’s a hopeful ball into the channel, Jacko has it covered and Jeacock comes rushing out. He’s then left waiting for the ball to arrive, and Aaron Collins nicks it off him. To his credit, Jacko then gets back and blocks the shot, but Jeacock is by this point out of position, and Bolton finish the move off. Zach got a lot of credit for his performance against Birmingham, but last night his kicking was awry and he got the one big moment of the game all wrong. Bear in mind, those two shots comprised 33% of Bolton’s overall attacking output, and were the only two they had on target all night.
That was 21 minutes in. 33 minutes in, Thomas Parsons made an error. He was the referee, a man drawing much ire from home supporters. I thought he had an alright game until the second half, but he was blind to what Bolton do well. They’re great at drawing fouls, hiding pulls and little digs. As an example, in the second half, I saw one of the Bolton players literally jab a little punch into Dylan Duffy’s back. There was the melee where one of them has done Hamilton with some sort of push as well. They’re clever at what they do, I’ve been saying it for years and it’s why I rate Evatt. At a club that doesn’t have such an expectation of being top of the table, Evatt would be a manager everyone revered and celebrated, because I think he’d get the same sort of outcomes from our squad as he does the expensively-assembled Bolton one.
Anyway, 33 minutes. I’ve watched the incident back time after time this morning, and I’m angry at how it unfolded and disappointed at the lack of anger from other supporters. The ball comes in and Reeco is clearly level with a line of defenders. He put the ball in the net, the flag stays down, its a goal. The only thing that changes the referee’s mind is the reaction of the Bolton players. There’s no signal from him for offside; the assistant makes no move to disallow; it’s purely their reaction. You can’t fault them for it, by the way, it plays into what I’ve written above about Evatt’s sides, but to rule it out for offside when A) it wasn’t and B) they’ve made no attempt to consult until the opponent reacts is utterly farcical.
It could be Jovon has been judged as offside as he tried to flick the ball on and missed it. It’s hard to see the whole line, but he looks to be level with a defender across the far side, but the replay doesn’t show it. It’s a harsh interpretation of interfering with play though, and it doesn’t excuse the fact no flag goes up. I wonder if the assistant and referee were trying to ascertain if Jovon touched it. If the ref thinks he did and assistant thinks he was offside but didn’t touch it, that’s how they might have come up with the decision. I think they’ve taken two and two and come up with five.
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