Bolton 0-2 Middlesbrough

I can only see another defeat here...

Ref Watch: Stephen Martin to take charge of Wanderers home clash against Middlesbrough

Referee Stephen Martin will oversee the Whites midweek home clash against Middlesbrough in the Sky Bet Championship.

In this midst of his 11th season as a top flight referee, Martin has officiated 29 games so far this year, in which he has produced 75 yellow cards and a three red cards.

When looking towards last season, Martin produced 93 yellow cards in 41 games, branding two red cards in total.

The last time Martin was in charge a Wanderers match was in March 2019, where he oversaw Wanderers 2-0 away defeat against Sheffield Wednesday in Sky Bet Championship.

In that fixture, Martin did not produce any cards to either side during the game.

Mark Jones and Jonathan Hunt will run the line for the fixture, with Ben Toner as fourth official.

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I had a choice tonight, go to watch us get beat or go to a gig, i chose the gig.

I don’t blame you mate.

If we had performed even half decently on Saturday then it may have been a tougher choice but they were so hopeless and put in no effort so why should i?

Potential for it to be the lowest crowd of the season, oh and Kens a tw@t.

Utter Shit !!!

bryan458 wrote:Utter Shit !!!

Enough about Ken... what about the team?

Well i did an 11 hour shift minding my twin granddaughters aged 2, then drove 60 miles had no tea but was in my seat by 7.50pm. then the day got harder. An empty stadium a silent defeated crowd, and  a team of talent less footballers all came together to produce exactly what we expected another defeat.

Forget the game and performance tonight the mood felt different almost surreal, as though we are drowning in a sea of disappointment with wave after wave of bad news washing over us. please make it stop after watching since 1963 this is my lowest ever feeling.

Players unpaid, no food provided for the officials, 1000s of season ticket holders stayed home, while the owners son is living it up in Dubai with his page 3 slag wife.
This is Blackpool mark 2

Depressing, embarrassing and clueless. They really are an abysmal set of footballers with the notable exception of Luca Connel. He'll be snapped up by a better team by the end of the next transfer window.
I fear that this shower won't cope with League 1, they're that poor. I thought that the football could get no worse, but they've proved me wrong again. It was worse than last Saturday and that was almost unbelievably bad.
They've not been paid- and they don't deserve to be

Growler wrote:Players unpaid, no food provided for the officials, 1000s of season ticket holders stayed home, while the owners son is living it up in Dubai with his page 3 slag wife.
This is Blackpool mark 2

I reckon there was about 5000 there tonight- I don't know what the official number (aka lie) was.

rammywhite wrote:

Growler wrote:Players unpaid, no food provided for the officials, 1000s of season ticket holders stayed home, while the owners son is living it up in Dubai with his page 3 slag wife.
This is Blackpool mark 2

I reckon there was about 5000 there tonight- I don't know what the official number (aka lie) was.

Attendance:
12,259

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Sluffy wrote:

rammywhite wrote:

Growler wrote:Players unpaid, no food provided for the officials, 1000s of season ticket holders stayed home, while the owners son is living it up in Dubai with his page 3 slag wife.
This is Blackpool mark 2

I reckon there was about 5000 there tonight- I don't know what the official number (aka lie) was.

Attendance:
12,259

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Absolute bollocks- the stadium was virtually empty. The only bit which was crowed was the corner where the Boro fans congregated.

rammywhite wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

rammywhite wrote:

Growler wrote:Players unpaid, no food provided for the officials, 1000s of season ticket holders stayed home, while the owners son is living it up in Dubai with his page 3 slag wife.
This is Blackpool mark 2

I reckon there was about 5000 there tonight- I don't know what the official number (aka lie) was.

Attendance:
12,259

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Absolute bollocks- the stadium was virtually empty. The only bit which was crowed was the corner where the Boro fans congregated.

884 of them apparently.

Taken from Iles match day blog.

They always count season tickets whether they go or not so the figure will always be wrong. I didn't go, i went to a gig and it was fantastic unlike Boltons performance by the sounds.

I think the mood on here pretty much reflects what I was feeling throughout the game. As the commentator on Sky said, we were toothless. A few nice passes from Luca Connell were perhaps the only enjoyable moments but we'll do well to hang on to him. 
I think we could all do with a bit of good news.

Report: Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Middlesbrough

A first-half brace from Ashley Fletcher ensured Middlesbrough travelled back up to the North East with three points.

The striker, a former Canon Slade pupil, proved to be too clinical in the first-half as his goals set up the visitors for what turned out to be a comfortable victory at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Team News

Phil Parkinson made three changes to the starting XI with Luca Connell, Marc Wilson and Craig Noone coming into the fray at the expense of Callum Connolly, Andrew Taylor and Will Buckley, who were all named among the substitutes.

First Half

An early opportunity arose for the visitors when Britt Assombalonga made a run through the middle of the pitch and into the penalty area, but the danger was read well by David Wheater who out-muscled the Boro striker.

Wheater again nullified the threat from the visitors when he intercepted Assombalonga’s intended pass to Ashley Fletcher, who was set to have a clear charge on goal.

Fletcher followed this up moments later with a shot from distance but the ball didn’t trouble Remi Matthews, who saw the ball sail over his cross bar.

Boro broke the deadlock through Fletcher after 16 minutes when he took advantage of Assombalonga’s deflected shot and placed it past Matthews.

Wanderers almost responded instantly when Ameobi put in a tantalising ball into the Boro box, but it was unable to find a Wanderers player.

Assombalonga was looking to get in on the goalscoring act and after he had twisted to lose the attentions of Wheater, he saw a shot blocked by Mark Beevers.

Fletcher doubled his tally for the evening and Boro’s lead just before the half-hour make when the latched on to Mo Besic’s ball before calmly dispatching into the top right hand corner.

The striker, who was schooled in Bolton, almost completed a hat-trick but his curling effort came off the foot of the post.

Second Half

Wanderers might have pulled a goal back early in the second period when a towering header from Beevers met a Gary O’Beil corner kick, but the chance was cleared away.

The hosts hadn’t given up all hope of getting on the scoresheet and Wheater nearly sneaked a goal in at the far post, following a deflected effort heading into his path. However, the eventual shot on target didn't trouble Randolph in the Boro goal.

Assombalonga should have put the game out of sight for the visitors shortly afterwards when he was put through one-on-one with Matthews but his chipped effort somehow failed to hit the target.

Matthews got a hand to a deflected Johnny Howson free-kick as Boro looked to increase their advantage.

The Wanderers keeper was again involved in the action and was in the right place to keep out another Howson strike.

Wanderers kept fighting in the hope of dragging the game back but in truth could only muster half-chances.

A Wheater header from an O’Neil delivery could only find its way into a sea of Boro defenders, while a first time shor from substitute Erhun Ozumer deflected for a corner.

Randolph made his first save of the night with a minute go when he got down well to keep out Ameobi.

Full Time

Bolton Wanderers: Matthews, Beevers, Ameobi, Noone, Olkowski, Wilson, O’Neil, J Williams (Oztumer 72), Magennis, Wheater, Connell (Connolly 82).

Subs Not Used: Alnwick, Little, Taylor, Donaldson, Buckley

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