A brace from substitute Dion Charles helped Bolton Wanderers to victory in the opening EFL Trophy group game of the season against Crewe Alexandra at the University of Bolton Stadium last night. Courtney Baker-Richardson had cancelled out Amadou Bakayogo’s opener in the opening period with Kieran Sadlier adding the other goal in the second half.
Manager Alex Morris made eight changes from Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Bradford City as Dave Richards would start in goal and was named as captain, Billy Sass-Davies and Charlie Finney came into the defence, midfielders Regan Griffiths, Khanya Leshabela and Oli Finney while Joel Tabiner and Bassala Sambou, the latter back following a 3-match suspension, started with Baker-Richardson as part of the front 3. On the bench were Rod McDonald, Luke Offord, Conor Thomas, Callum Ainley, Dan Agyei, Eli King and goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo.
The hosts had the opening chance and goal of the game in the 5th minute saw Bakayoko score into the top corner from close range following a mistake from Kelvin Mellor before the visitors drew level 11 minutes later as an Oli Finney cross from the left was fumbled by Joel Dixon onto Baker-Richardson with the ball rolling in.
Morris would make two changes at the break with club captain Offord and Agyei replacing Mellor and CBR with King and Ainley coming on later in the half for O. Finney and Griffiths as the Alex were looking to try to win the game. The second for Bolton came in the 78th minute with Charles rounding Richards following a missed interception from Sass-Davies before Sadlier would curl their third into the top corner 8 minutes later following a 1-2 with substitute Elias Kachunga. The final goal came a minute from time with Charles getting on the end of a left-sided cross from Joe Iredale.
The next games for the Alex see a return to league action at home to Stevenage on Saturday before a trip to Grimsby Town the following Saturday.
What can we take out of this game?
A good performance from Richards on his return to the side, especially in the latter stage of the game, but there seems to be a lack of depth in the squad beyond the first 13-14 players (although that would be in a team that doesn’t contain first-choice players in most positions).
University of Bolton Stadium
EFL Trophy
30/08/2022 8:00 pm
Referee: Scott Oldham
| Bolton Wanderers | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bakayogo, Charles (2), Sadlier | Baker-Richardson | ||||||
| Dixon | Richards | ||||||
| Aimson | Mellor | 46 | |||||
| Toal | 60 | Sass-Davies | |||||
| Johnston | Williams | ||||||
| Jones | 46 | C. Finney | |||||
| Sheehan | 60 | Griffiths | 72 | ||||
| Thomason | Leshabela | ||||||
| Iredale | Tabiner | ||||||
| Sadlier | O. Finney | 72 | |||||
| Bakayogo | 60 | Sambou | |||||
| Afolayan | 60 | Baker-Richardson | 46 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Williams | 60 | Okonkwo | |||||
| Santos | 60 | McDonald | |||||
| Charles | 60 | Offord | 46 | ||||
| Morley | Thomas | ||||||
| Bradley | 46 | Ainley | 72 | ||||
| Dempsey | Agyei | 46 | |||||
| Kachunga | 60 | King | 72 | ||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 26 | Goal attempts | 4 |
| 11 | On Target | 2 |
| 6 | Corners | 1 |
| 10 | Fouls | 4 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 64 | % | 36 |