Jamie Thomas hits four as youngsters sweep aside their Blackburn counterparts
Wanderers’ Under-18s marked their first home game of the new season with a 5-1 demolition of Blackburn Rovers on Saturday morning.Fresh from a 0-0 draw with Manchester United in their league opener last weekend, the Whites found themselves a goal up early on as Jamie Thomas opened the scoring with a well-taken strike, with the young striker doubling his tally before the break with a free-kick from 25 yards.
The visitors did reduce the deficit before the half time break, but their effort was to prove to be a scant consolation as following the restart, Thomas completed his hat-trick after good work by Kieran Nolan and Luke Griffiths, firing home from an acute angle.
Carl Kennedy was on the score sheet with a well-taken chip from 20 yards soon after, but Thomas, who recently earned himself a call-up to the Wales Under-19 squad, added a fourth to his tally before the game’s conclusion as he rolled his man on the edge of the box before firing home with a composed finish.
Speaking following the final whistle, David Lee praised his young side for their professionalism and determination to record such an emphatic victory.
“I’m thrilled for the players as they all deserved the result for their hard work throughout,” he said. “We created a lot of good goalscoring chances during the game and played with inventiveness and creativity.
“Overall, it was a much deserved result and a very pleasing performance with a great variety of well taken and well worked goals.”
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Spooner, Garratt, Honeyball, Phillips, Kennedy, Griffiths (Palmer 75), Nolan, Elumba (Allen 80), Thomas, McCoy (Trialist 60), White