Bolton Wanderers U23s took all three points yesterday evening against Coventry City in the Professional Development League, as they beat the Sky Blues 2-1 at the County Ground.
FIRST HALF
Wanderers started superbly well, with captain Liam Edwards floating a ball over the top to Connor Hall, who spins his man down the right side.
From there, the striker managed to cross the ball into Joe Pritchard, whose bullet header flew straight past Corey Addai in the Coventry goal.
The visitors were struggling to get a foothold on the game, as Shakeel Jones-Griffiths broke up play in the middle of the pitch to set off Connor Hall on a counter attack.
The young forward looked certain to double the lead, only for a Sky Blues defender to make a last-ditch block to clear the dangerous threat.
Wanderers continued to pile on the pressure, with a Dennis Politic freekick narrowly missing the target from just outside the box.
David Lee’s side continued to have chances, with Harry Brockbank crossing the ball into the area to Pritchard who had his effort on goal blocked on the line.
SECOND HALF
Shortly after the break and Navarro was at it again, dancing through Coventry’s defensive line to produce a curled effort on goal from a tight angle. However, the striker hit the far post.
Connor Hall nearly had Wanderers’ second five on 53 minutes, with some clever link up play between Politic and Marcus Wood ended with a through ball to the frontman.
Unfortunately for the forward, he couldn’t direct his shot on target.
The Sky Blues started to come back into the game on the hour mark, with a dangerous phase of play down their right side falling to Jordan Ponticelli in the area, with him unable to curve his effort into the back of Remi Matthews’ goal.
Ponticelli was again at the centre of things, being played through one on one with Matthews, but his chipped effort was wasted.
With less than ten minutes to go, David Lee’s men had their second.
A long kick forward from Matthews caused havoc in the Coventry box, leaving Hall to place the ball past Addai to make it 2-0.
Coventry did find a consolation goal in injury time, with Ponticelli rounding Matthews to slot the ball into an empty net.
FULL TIME
Wanderers XI: Matthews, Brockbank, Earing, Edwards (C), Zouma, Jones-Griffiths, Politic (Nemane 86), Wood, Hall, Pritchard, Navarro
Unused substitutes: Aspinall, Hartshorne, Brown, Connell