Post Match Musings: Hammer Time
Posted by Ratbert in Bolton, West Ham | 16 March 2006
A disappointing night, then, but not a disastrous one. We played as much, if not more, good ‘football’ as those so-called kings of style, West Ham, did, and only lost because of a simultaneous rush of blood to two heads and an inability to put our chances away, a common Bolton problem, it would seem.
Why Nicky Hunt, without a competitive game in eons, was given a starting berth ahead of Joey O’Brien is a question only Sam can answer, but at least we can paint ‘scapegoat’ on his forehead again, something we’ve not been able to do in a long while. He tried to clear the eventual og with the wrong foot, and subsequently hoofed the ball aimlessly out of play for the rest of the match, though in his favour Nicky did get several good tackles in on the West Ham players, who whilst able to pass and move forward fairly fluently in the last third, are wusses when it comes to actually keeping the ball.
Still, the rest of the team did well – especially midfield. Jay Jay’s recent haircut has worked wonders, the weight of those dreadlocks was obviously too much. Gardner was dazzling and Stelios a handful; whilst Davies took his goal expertly. The defence was more than up to the task of soaking up the fits-and-starts Hammers attacks, which made the against-the-run-of-play winner all the more galling.
So no trophies this season, but I don’t think any silverware was really on the cards, hand on heart. It’s rare that a team from outside the big four gets such a privilege. Sam wants to win something to show the team’s progress, don’t we all; personally I think we’re another season or two away from a major final.
At least the fixture list now eases up, leaving the team free to concentrate on getting six points from the two games in hand and providing enough rest to deal with those tricky matches against Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea when they arrive in rapid succession. In the meantime, Sunderland visit the Reebok this coming Saturday, a match we should win comfortably unless the mackems remember to scatter banana skins over the pitch beforehand…
