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Your Bolton Wanderers v Southend United Match Reports

Sindre94 added 16:49 - Aug 25 Dont really feel like commenting but I have to. This was embarrassing of course it was, awful and it hurts. But, I dont want jewell out, this is a one off and we still got a few days of the transferwindow to go. We have to be there and there-about when christmas arrives, if not something has to chance and that being the coaching staff+the manager. Respond to this with 3 points next weekend, forget this and move on. COYB IJWT ITID

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ChrisFelix added 17:03 - Aug 25 same old story, mistake to give away the first goal, Game over. Is it that we continue to play with 3 defenders & dont support Chopra. ,And JET is a real luxury
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algarvefan added 17:05 - Aug 25 Just got in and couldn't believe the score...were we that bad, is this another false dawn?? I hope not ....keep the faith COYB Bouncebackability required!!!
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h32 added 17:18 - Aug 25 ........... no comment - all been said before.
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brittaniaman added 17:25 - Aug 25 IT seems like nobody dare report on this game ???? Just got in and I still cannot believe the score !!!!!! Our shoestring budget seem to have caught up with us today ??? but still 6 days to go before window shuts ?? COYBs !!!!
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martin12120137 added 17:36 - Aug 25 im not going to start saying jewell out like most of you because a team needs stability plus there are not many good managers out there at the moment but clegg and evans need to give jewell some money to spend and now we got 8 miilion upfront from wickham sale were has that gone we got told that would be reinvested! we need a new CB a new winger and a proper striker who can actually score! a big target man! without these players we wont be going far! i also reckon he needs to leave JET out for a few games make him reliase he actually has to earn his place in the team and please please jewell never play one upfront again i never have liked it that way and we cant score anyway so not going to help at all is it!!

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Lightningboy added 17:38 - Aug 25 12 months on from the 7-1 Peterboro defeat...not a lot's improved on the defensive side really has it?...how many more of these sort of results are Town fans going to put up with before something gives?
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TimmyH added 17:46 - Aug 25 @sindre - not quite sure how you forget a 6-0 drubbing by the next weekend? something is fundamentally wrong with this team or maybe even just the defense, heads drop too easily, this didn't happen the second half of last season!! Too early to start pointing fingers after just one result, we'll see where we are by the time October come's around.
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casanovacrow added 17:49 - Aug 25 After the radio comments I feel the need to stand up for Tommy Smith. Yeas he has made a few mistakes but think back to Titus Bramble, he was far worse but we stuck with him n look what he did in his 1st season in the Prem. Yes bad scoreline, wasn't expecting any points though. In a way its a blessing, its a reality check to Evans Clegg and Paul, we need 3-4 players in, specific positions with specific attributes. Jet needs to be benched, you cannot afford to carry him for 89min a game. He's capable of magic but thats at the expense of being a man down for the rest of the game, it's just not worth it. Use him as a last roll of the dice in a game when we need to gamble by all means. In all games this season we haven't been direct enough either, we can pass the ball well but we don't seem to make the runs past the defence or make the passes to get round the back either. Despite this loss and all the negatives above we got more going for us than most teams in this division still, just need to sort the above out n we could make a challenge on the top 6 for 1st time in far too long

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RegencyBlue added 17:50 - Aug 25 Sindre - if only this were a one off under Jewell but remembr 7-1 against Peterborough, 5-1 against Norwich, 5-2 against Southampton? There's a pattern emerging here but only Jewell seems unable to see it! Same old problems unfortunately.
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casanovacrow added 17:53 - Aug 25 Ian Holloway ...sign him up lol
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martin12120137 added 17:53 - Aug 25 I DONT THINK THE CHARITIES ARE GOING TO DO VERY WELL THIS YEAR WITH LOACH!
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Sindre94 added 17:55 - Aug 25 I know I know.. But we HAVE to. It wont be easy but we HAVE to forget this, quickly
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oxfordblue added 17:55 - Aug 25 this result sums us up we can't score goals but we can have lots of possession. we certainly can't defend and after 3 games our goal difference is minus 5. we have been promised players for the last 2 years by jewell and he hasn't delivered. this will be a year of a mid table finish with the odd bit of hope from the ocasional good result and in a years time it will be the same excuses. i haven't seen his report yet but it will be the same old. jim magilton was fired for finishing 8th?

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algarvefan added 18:04 - Aug 25 A young side will always have an off day, we have lost to this years champions in my opinion, heads dropped at 3-0 there's no doubt. WE the supporters must keep faith in this side, and stay behind them, Jewell must stop picking players that don't perform, JET is one of those players and now must concentrate on getting players in. I've been saying for some time scoring at the end of all our possession is a real problem and at least one striker is a priority. I knew the moaners would start to appear today, don't get me wrong I'm not happy, but it's one game this season and we were beaten by a much better side, but only in the second half!!!

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Mullet added 19:02 - Aug 25 The intermittent showers and ominous black clouds as we approached Blackpool provided a telling glimpse of what looked like Mordor’s camp, neon and STI smattered cousin. On a pitch you could take in without your moving head, (oddly being watered despite the rain) Town came out with only one change. Drury replaced Carson on the right flank, with the same back five and midfield/attacking shape as in previous encounters. Blackpool also played with width and one up top, the perennial evergreen striker and much lamented Town target of yore Kevin Phillips spearheading their attack. There was little romance in a game which began at a fast and frantic if emotionless pace. Balls swung to and fro in the midfield as both sides looked to move it around on a tight pitch. Blackpool with home advantage in this grubby tableau would eventually play the Glaswegian on a stag, eventually bending the scouse hen of Town over the metaphorical wheelie bin of Bloomfield Road. Fittingly Town wouldn’t give it up right away. We were better to look at in the opening exchanges. JET set free down the left and drilling the ball across goal with no one in sight to tap it home. The tip-tap of Luongo and Hyam was pleasing but ultimately it didn’t unlock Blackpool who never really threatened Loach at first. With our wingers swapping flanks throughout the half Drury made his one decent touch of the game to play in Martin to little avail – the lower league sensation then played the absent father to the youngsters all around him. Disappearing into the background for most of the game, Drury seemed to be the weak link. JET may have been more noticeable due to getting the ball time and again but triple marked at times and rarely with an outlet, the youngster flicked and flounced his way around the pitch, his head dropping as time went by. The opening came for Blackpool when a tired and leggy Smith misjudged a loose ball, spinning off his head for the hosts to cut it in from the goal line. A panicking Cresswell dived at it and emphatically gifted the lead. For all his neat work going forward the youngster looked to falter from then on in, much like his team mates. JET sliced one wide to much dersion from a hypocritical few who loudly lauded a stunning volley he later created singlehandedly. Gilks pushed it wide and the former Arsenal man then wasted the corner. Jekyll from JET, hide from some of his team mates as Town slipped further behind the early promise. Chopra couldn’t out jump the giants at the back and the tiny pitch wasn’t long enough for him to beat them to the ball every time Town went long. Especially as it cut up like Tony Montana’s stash from the opening salvo players on both sides slipping all too often. Our short passes looked nice but there was no movement of bodies to match. Running out of options it was cruel to go in just before half time two down. Disappointing new boy Chambers gifted the ball to his onrushing opponent and it was coolly put away. We didn’t deserve that. With the away fans getting restless Town needed words of wisdom and an arm around their shoulders during the break – instead they got a rude reminder of last seasons woe. Ince proved an unfair test for Town and smeared it in our faces with an exquisite third and fourth. Jinking through our two older defenders to finish at the near post, before taking a fourth for the home team with a fizzing effort from the edge of the box on our left hand side, the young talent compounded a miserable day. Two ladies in front of me unhooked themselves from the stirrups and took shanks’ pony out of the ground. They were soon followed by droves of blues as Town kept up with the retro chic of last season. Subbing the one player Blackpool were worried about monitoring, and leaving Drury on instead. JET capped a disappointing and frustrating day with a slow jog towards the bench passing Scotland on the way. Likewise Luongo was inexplicably taken off soon after for Carson to be added to an already sterile attack down the right. The luckless Chopra soon made way for Murray who could do little to effect the game by now as Blackpool were five up thanks to a neat cross and thumping header from Cathcart. Town fans poured out perhaps to ride the Big One, while their team merely sucked it. The young Irishman Murray collected the ball from deep as Town lost heart, shape and focus, but finding the busy and muscular Caribbean Scotland could only carve out half chances. Playing in Martin who was offside when Town’s first goal of the day was quickly chalked off, Jason wasn’t going to get anything from a miserly home side. They expertly packed the middle and ushered Town out time and again. Martin also showed his Man United pedigree as Smith stuttered the ball out of defence. Desperate for a pass he chipped it towards the lithe and lively Lee. It bounced out before Martin could get anything other than a petulant fist to it, much to the locals’ amusement. Blackpool also had one removed from the scoreline as they carved us open again only for a silly foul by Dicko to deny them an easy tap in. Alas they were always going to make it six as Loach depressingly flapped helplessly and Dicko restrained himself enough in the final minute to bury Town. It summed up a dreadful day at the office. An early season beating under Jewell is fittingly nostalgic given the setting, but to achieve the unthinkable and to be outclassed in Blackpool is a rare thing indeed. The three dozen home fans robotically hummed the song they nicked off Celtic with glee throughout the game – such was the joy of the occasion. We all want the Town of old deep down. Passing football, youngster in the side and that was pleasing to see. But today Jewell seems only to have gone as far back as John Duncan in our history.

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budgieplucker added 19:06 - Aug 25 Its a great shame that the encouraging signs get washed over with his defeat. Honesty before today tells us this team will struggle to compete for a top six place but is capable of some good performances which will hopefully keep us well away from danger. We shouldn't look to making anyone a scapegoat as well - Tommy Smith will have some great games this season and will have some games where he will make mistakes. The brutal truth is that the spine of the team has still not been sufficiently strengthened, we look weak from scoring goals from midfield and whilst Chops can be a potent finisher we don't have a cutting edge or a physical presence up front to make the centre backs know they have been in a game. I offer up the following quote from the Derek McInnes the Bristol City manager - given that Bristol survived by the skin of their teeth last season they will be a useful club to compare ourselves against for progress - the two signings quoted with an ambitious Chief Executive and Owner could have been wearing the blue of Ipswich. "We are getting goals from the middle of the park, which we didn't do last season and now have some great options up front. "With Sam [Baldock] and Steve [Davies] on board, we have a lot of different strikers, who pose threats in various ways. All the clubs I have been at, who were successful, had good strength in depth when it came to strikers. "It is very early days, but after last season I'm delighted to be challenging at the right end of the table even at this stage of the campaign."

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cbower added 21:26 - Aug 25 Arrrived home and not too much to add to Mullet's account but just a few thoughts anyway. Crap stand which is an insult to the £57 it cost to get my old man, boy and myself in - just a shed surrounded by other sheds for toilets and refreshements. At least the rain held off and we didn't get soaked like last year! Lots of passing, possession but too little penetration. Martin behind the striker is HIS best position but with Chopra on his own up top this often ends up as ineffectual for the team as a whole. Smith was poor, caught under the ball too many times, failing to attack it, letting it bounce - all cardinal sins for the Central Defender. Appalling mistake for the opener by him and Chambers compounded this just before the break, sloppily giving it away which lead directly to number two. One rasping effort from JET was the only genuine threat from Town despite the overall eveness of the first half. As Holloway rightly pointed out, 2-0 flattered the home side somewhat. As an aside, the Linesman infront of us failed to keep up with play throughout and consequently was crap. Too slow and too fat! Come the second half and it was soon game over. Ince, increasingly impressive took Smith to the cleaners and drilled in the third shortly after the restart and a few minutes before the hour mark the same player made it four from outside the area with Town players failing to close him down. The droves of Blues supporters who left thereafter with some 33 minutes still on the clock was disappointing for me and something I will never be able to understand. Yes we were getting a mauling, yes it was annoying, embarassing, frustrating and any other negative "ing" you might care to think of but this is our side and having made the huge effort to get there, surely you should stay and "support" to the bitter end? Three substitutions from Jewell made no real difference as rather like many of the supporters who had left, the players were now no longer up for the fight. Indeed, whilst not advocating deliberate fouls, I can't really recall a Town crunching tackle all game and certainly not after 4-0. During the final 30 minutes the boys sort of shadowed the home side and a further two goals could easily have been three or four. I wasn't at the Posh game last year (watched on TV) but I was at Burnley and our second half display was almost as dire as that miserable night at Turf Moor last November. We are crying out for some power up top to add variety to our one dimensional front line. Pace out wide is lacking and JET just has to be more consistent. Chops is isolated and I have run out of the will to carry on writing any more. Boro away will be my next venture out, hope we have a few new faces and can put this episode behind us before that. Thanks for reading.

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runaround added 22:00 - Aug 25 There's no disgrace losing at Blackpool, however to ship 6 is a disgrace however good they might have played. This also isn't the first time under PJ where we seem to give up when we go 2 goals down. Its a huge dose of reality for us all. Even though its only the league cup, the Carlisle match is now vitally important to help repair shattered confidence. We need to make sure today was a one-off blip and not go on a long poor run as we have in the last couple of seasons. Its good the players have an early chance to put it right

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OldClactonBlue added 22:18 - Aug 25 Wake up. This team is very poor. Last week against Blackburn, we had alot of the ball but created nothing. You can keep deluding youselves by all means, but this lot ; "Board", Chief Exec, Manager, Players, are seconfd rate compared with even the George Burley era. There is simply hardly any quality in the squad, and all are targets are at best second rate. I can only ask what ambition really exists? From what I see it is only about keeping alive in the Championship. It is not aligned at all to what the supporters think. I'm sure there will be loads of people taking issue with this post. To you I would say, look at the history of ITFC, this is a very, very, poor point in time.

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dirtydingusmagee added 10:44 - Aug 26 brittaniaman 6 days or 66 days we will still not have the players needed unfortunately.Yet again any cause for optimism gets wiped out by a nightmare display.Weve been there so many times it has become par for the course now.PJ said before match he hoped we would take over at top ,! it certainly makes you wonder about his perception.He said after the match, we had as much of the ball as them but didnt do anything with it ! something is very wrong ,has been for ages. Chopra reckoned he would get 30 goals this season ,another person who is deluded it seems .I dont see this season being any different from the last , no money and a manager who bumbles and mumbles his way through season week by week .

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dirtydingusmagee added 16:33 - Aug 27 fewer reports than usual ! is that because it was a c#'p result or because it seems twice as hard to use this revamped site [ said scratching head ]
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slowerball added 12:07 - Aug 28 The dust has now settled and it doesn't get any better. My knee jerk response to this game wouldn't have been vastly different to my thoughts and opinion now. I missed the 6th goal as I had just left the ground when the cheers went up... this, the first time I have ever left a ground before the final whistle. At half time we hoped we could come back maybe grind out a 2 all draw... how wrong we were. The first goal was a major error by Loach (who should have claimed the ball) and Cresswell (who was under no pressure) - I still can't understand why they did what they did. The 2nd goal, poor defending basically, although it was a good finish. The second half was shocking. We looked vulnerable each time Blackpool went forward. Ince looks a decent player and there was some good finishing, but we allowed it to happen, didn't get a foot in, didn't get tight enough and sat too deep. When we did have the odd attack, it rarely created a chance and we failed to pick up any second balls that came from the Blackpool back-line as our midfield were on the halfway line with our defenders sat even deeper. We night as well have squeezed up the pitch and competed better than we did. If we lost 7 or 8, so what? We were inviting them onto us at the end. They kept the ball well, but we didn't harry, close down or - more importantly - tackle. Onto performances, oh dear - where do I start: Luongo looks like a player and fought for the ball and looked lively - why he was taken off I do not know. Hyam - poor. Goes sideways or backwards and defended very poorly, adds nothing to attacking play. Cresswell - is it me, or can he not defend / tackle? £5m from Villa - take it. Chambers - ordinary; Smith - ditto. Edwards tried hard, did okay, but lost the ball once or twice needlessly. Loach - made one or two decent saves, kicking / distribution - must improve and he should have took responsibility and claimed that ball that came across for the OG. JET - no brain. Drury - does his best, worked hard. Chopra - very poor. Martin - okay. The subs... Murray - out of his depth; Scotland - ok, didn't get the service that suits him. Carson - not convinced. We had very little in the way of ideas, were predictable (not sure what plan A was never mind plan B) and lacked movement or options when we did have the ball. Attacks, such that they were broke down too easily. It was embarrassing to be honest. We do have a young inexperienced squad - good for the future IF these guys progress. But the future is now and we don't want to be celebrating the coming good of these kids when we are in league 2 (or do we?) At the moment, the Hyams and the Carsons simply aren't good enough and it seems to me that they are only playing because we have low numbers and little option. I'd rather have seen, for example, a Colin Healy on Saturday than Hyam and Carson - sad but true I'm afraid. N'Daw might add some must needed bottle / strength / tackling in midfield, good Lord we need it. I'm all for young players coming through but they cannot do so in a struggling side. They cannot be carried. We need folks to be as good as they can be and give 100% every game. There is no room for us to develop players, unless they are already there or thereabouts good enough and none of ours are, or we are blasting sides away and bringing these kids on. I don't know what PJ and his bench do during games. Holloway was screaming orders, despite being 4 or 5 up, and looking bothered. PJ just looked glum. He MUST have seen what we were watching but didn't seem to want to try to change things. It was obvious what was going wrong and what the team needed to do from my seat - why not from the bench? He does need to bring players in - that is clear. I am not a guy who seeks for managers to succeed quickly or face the sack, and PJ does seem to have the backing of the board and owner, but he seems to have had two cracks at this - one: with experienced (has been) players, and now with kids for the future... or so it seems. Clearly, you need a balance, you need players who are good enough irrespective of age and that can fit in to what formation you want to play. Holloway has a strategy, a way to play football - simple and effective, the basics done very well. Not sure PJ has that vision or the ability to implement similar... I will however be at Carlisle tonight...

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