Well we did what was needed and picked up the 3 points - having said that it was not the game we wanted , we all wanted an easy ride with us improving our goal difference. This was not the Bolton who rolled over and died last week, they fought for everything (literally with the brawl that saw their manager sent off, and will no doubt get us some punishment from the EFL) Without Roofe we had Bamford at centre forward with Roberts (who was impressive) behind him. It was not the greatest of games or performance as we struggled to hit the heights that we had against Swansea in our last game. In fact only a great save from Kiko tipping the ball over the bar prevented them from going ahead. We then got the goal that we so desperately needed - Roberts went rampaging forward and was brought down in the box - looked a 100% penalty from my seat. There was a bit of a melee as Roberts and Bamford argued over who would take it with Pablo also wanting to take it. In the end Ayling seemed to decide that Bamford would take it , the right decision since he scored with some style We hoped that would set us up for an easy victory, but Bolton did not want to give in and they came back at us - Harrison managed to head a header off the line and we thought we had escaped but the ball was not properly cleared and after another shot was blocked it fell to a Bolton player who shot home. Bamford with two half chances, Harrison and ALioski all worked their keeper who was having a good game and so we went in at half time at 1 1 The second half was more of the same with us trying to get the breakthrough we craved and we did create some half chances and near misses, but the problem was they were doing the same as the game ebbed and flowed a bit and Kiko was having to earn his money. We have bemoaned our luck all season but we got some yesterday when an overhit cross by Alioski somehow evaded the keeper and went over his head onto the underside of the bar and in - no way did Alioski mean it, but at this stage of the season we will take any good fortune that comes our way. As always we did try to score again and put the game beyond doubt but though we cam close on a number of occasions it was not to be -their keeper making some routine saves including one from substitute Dallas. At the other end we looked nervy as the worry in the stands transmitted itself onto the pitch. Alioski was fouled in front of the managers and that led to a bit of handbags and the sending off of their manager - shame it was not one of their players since it was no real advantage to us. Ameobi came on for them and that sent a few hearts racing as he seems to be one of those who always scores against us , and he almost did but luckily his long range shot went just wide ( I think Casilla had it covered, honest) and the final whistle was met with more cheers of relief than enjoyment. So we got the 3 points and that is all that matters but we will need to play better than this to beat QPR, a team in freefall, and then West Brom on Friday - a win against them could knock them out of the race for automatic and make it a 3 horse race with Sheff U still to visit us (a defeat in either or both games this week and things will look a lot different !) Just hope we can control our nerves and that we can start scoring more freely Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org
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