Bolton Wanderers started their first game in Scotland with a win over Scottish League One outfit Arbroath to maintain their 100% record during pre-season.
Starting with a diamond formation, with Adam Le Fondre behind Haris Tabakovic, Phil Parkinson’s side faced early pressure from their Scottish counterparts. Steven Doris firing wide from an acute angle on seven minutes.
Tom O’Brien was next to try his luck, after finding himself unmarked, the defender fired over the crossbar at the far post following a corner.
Wanderers soon found their groove, Connor Hall showed blistering pace to beat his defender as he got onto the end of Le Fondre’s through-ball, his powerful strike was saved at the near post.
Jeff King proved to be a thorn in the Arbroath side, the midfielder came close twice in quick succession. First seeing his shot from the edge of the box drag wide of the far post before his curling strike was deflected behind for a corner on 25 minutes.
Just six minutes later, Wanderers were awarded a penalty, Le Fondre was fouled in the box by the last defender after running onto Harry Brockbank’s through-ball.
Picking himself up off the floor, Le Fondre powered home the resulting spot-kick, scoring his first goal of pre-season.
The lead was short-lived as almost instantly, the hosts were awarded a penalty of their own after Mark Howard fouled Steven Doris inside the box. It was almost deja vu as the striker coolly converted the penalty to level the scores at half-time.
Parkinson made just one change for the second-half with Alnwick replacing Howard in goal.
Just seven minutes into the second 45, Bolton were back in front. Hall once again showed his pace as he found himself in on goal, his cutback came off an Arbroath defender and nestled into the back of the net.
Parkinson rang the changes on the hour fielding a completely different side to the one that started the game. With Alnwick in goal, Darby, Wheater, Beevers and Andy Taylor in defence; Pratley, Vela and Karacan in midfield, with Vela playing just behind Gary Madine.
Wanderers controlled the game for the following 15 minutes, retaining possession well, while no clear cut chances were created, both Madine and Vela tested Gomes in the Arbroath net, however, neither found the back of the net.
As the final whistle blew, Wanderers' made it two wins out of two in pre-season and now look towards their next challenge in Dundee FC.
Image credit: @graham_black