Wanderers U23s were held to a 0-0 draw by Ipswich Town U23s at The University of Bolton Stadium on Mon evening.
TEAM NEWS
David Lee made three changes to the starting line-up that faced Millwall, with Ben Williams coming in for James Aspinall along with Marc Wilson and Joe Muscatt replacing Shakeel Jones-Griffiths and Eddie Brown.
FIRST HALF
Wanderers started the brighter of the two sides, with some close, quick passing between Marc Wilson and Dennis Politic opening up space for onrushing full back Joe Muscatt to break into.
However, he broke the line just a fraction quickly, as he was adjudged to be offside.
Ipswich had their first chance of the half on nine minutes, with El Mizouni breaking in from the left flank and taking a snapshot from a close angle.
But, Whites keeper Ben Williams was able to stand firm and palmed the ball firmly to safety.
Wanderers had their first set-piece chance of the night through Harry Brockbank. A Joe Pritchard out swinging header found the right-back, but his glancing header was just a fraction over the bar.
Brockbank came close again, as both he and Pritchard linked up with a floated delivery into the area finding the defender once again, but he could not direct his header towards the Ipswich Town goal.
Pritchard was in the thick of the attacking fray once more, as a Marcus Wood interception let Luca Navarro loose to run at the defence with pace.
He created an area of the pitch for Pritchard to loiter, as he lay the ball into his path.
The winger’s resulting effort, unfortunately for him, was deflected out of play well by a resilient Tractor Boys’ defence.
Ipswich nearly nipped in with a goal just on the stroke of half-time, as a misplaced headed pass from Yoan Zouma fell to the feet of Corey McKendry.
The midfielder provided a bit of trickery to make his way in the Wanderers area, but his driven effort was saved well by Ben Williams.
SECOND HALF
Ipswich started the brighter going into the second period, as El Mizouni broke in from the left side, but his eventual effort could not be directed goalward.
David Lee’s men immediately replied with the best chance of the match.
Dennis Politic came infield to find Jack Earing, whose firmly hit effort on target looked to be a certain goal, until defender Barry Cotter flung his body on the line to prevent the deadlock being broke.
Both sides had their chances in the second period but they none as close as Earing’s strike early in the half.
FULL TIME
Wanderers XI: Williams, Brockbank, Muscatt, Edwards (C), Zouma, Wilson (Jones-Griffiths 71), Earing, Wood (Connell 82), Navarro (Brown 76), Politic, Pritchard
Unused substitutes: Aspinall, Hartshorne