U18s: Bolton 4-1 Wolves

After last weekend’s heavy defeat away at Sunderland, the Whites were back on home territory looking to make amends and they did so in style.

In bitter conditions, the home side started the first half well and had their opponents on the back foot for the opening ten minutes with Elliot Newby setting up Jimmy Ball at the back post, but the towering centre half could only head into the palms of keeper Harry Burgoyne.

After this Wolves came back into the game and were unfortunate not to go ahead after their long ball tactics caused Will Jaaskelainen to get his positioning confused, but fortunately for the keeper Keeta Ibrahim scuffed his shot wide.

This let off inspired the Whites and in the 19th minute after some great hold up play from target man Guillermo Torres, Newby’s shot fell to Jamie Thomas who was able to guide the ball home.

The goal was the start of a crazy five minutes, when just moments later the Bolton back four were caught napping and Ball bought down Jesse Devers in the area, with the resulting penalty being coolly converted by his strike partner Ibrahim Keita who put the ball straight down the middle. 

As their opponents did moments before, this time it was Wolves’ turn to switch off and in the 23rd minute Newby beat a man to whip a perfectly teed cross into the box which Torres soared above his marker to put the home side in front again.

On the half hour mark, the team from the Black Country were unlucky not to go level again when after a great flick on from Ibrahim, a cheeky in swinging shot from Devers could only sail over the crossbar.

There was to be no repeat of a lost lead again for the Whites however as in the 37th minute, Thomas produced a mazy run and finished it off beautifully to put the home side two in front going in to the break. 

After a scrappy opening ten of the second half in which neither side could take the initiative, Irish winger Ryan Rainey did just that when he produced a fine outstretched stop from Jaaskelainen to tip the ball over the bar.

Due to the weather conditions both teams struggled to maintain the same tempo as the previous half but this didn’t deter Torres, whose razor sharp reflexes allowed him to slot in Jordan Hendrie’s rebounded shot in the 65th minute for his second of the afternoon.

Five minutes later the Spaniard nearly completed a perfect hat trick, but was to be outdone by the crossbar’s height.

Captain Sam Bailey in the centre of midfield was instrumental throughout and his collectiveness stopped the visiting team from getting back into the game. 

This allowed Bolton to see out the final twenty minutes in comfortable fashion, winning for the first time this season. 

A mature and gutsy performance from David Lee and Tony Kelly’s side, the team will be hoping that they can repeat their efforts against Sheffield United in the FA Youth Cup this coming Friday.