In quotes: Bolton v Southend United

bwfc.co.uk rounds up manger, player and local press post-match reaction following Wanderers' draw with the Shrimpers

Wanderers's unbeaten start to the 2016/17 Sky Bet League One season continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Southend United despite a dominant display at Macron Stadium on Saturday

Rounding up the manager, player and local press' post-match reaction alike, bwfc.co.uk offers the final word on the match... 



How bwfc.co.uk saw it...
Wanderers’ unbeaten start to life in Sky Bet League One continued as they played out a 1-1 draw with Southend United at Macron Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It was the visitors who broke the deadlock inside three minutes, with Harry Kyprianou slamming home from six yards out, but the Whites were back level in the 48th minute as Keshi Anderson notched a debut strike for the club.

It was all Bolton for the remainder of the second period, with Jay Spearing seeing a free-kick tipped over the bar amongst other chances for the Trotters, but they were ultimately forced to settle for just the solitary point come full time.

I thought we handled the problems they gave us, in terms of sitting deep behind the ball really well, and were very positive in a lot of aspects of our play.

You always want to take three points in every game and the only annoyance I've got with us today was that at the start of the game. 

But after that we were excellent. We played really well and had 63% of possession. 23 attempts to their three and goal line clearances – we couldn’t do much more to win the game. 

I was delighted with the performance. I thought we were excellent. Some of the football we played was great. The new lads all looked good. We’re disappointed we didn’t win but there are a lot of good signs out there. 

How Jay Spearing saw it...
There’s a lot of frustration. After they scored, we controlled the game throughout. We played some really good stuff and are devastated not to walk away with the three points.

We’re not happy with the goal we conceded. It was very sloppy but we didn’t let it knock us. We came straight back at them after conceding and they defended for the rest of the game. 

We put them under a lot of pressure and created a lot of chances. We’ve had over 20 attempts at goal – I can’t believe we haven’t got the three points. 

It’s one of those things. We’ve come away with a point, we’re still top of the league and we’re going to push on from here and be ready for MK Dons.

I was hoping for three (points) coming here with a game plan. Not to entertain, but just to get a result and knock them off their pedestal and knock them off the top of table. 

It’s a big challenge; everyone thought Sheffield United was a big challenge but coming to clubs like this that have been in the top flight for a number of years and to come away with a point. 

It was a hard earned point, the first half performance was really good, and the second half performance was one of dig deep and defend and get what you can from the game and that’s what we did. 

Entertainment on the pitch, controversy off it… this is starting to feel a lot more like Wanderers of old.

No-one gets an easy ride at the Macron these days, not least the referee, who came in for stick from both dugouts after a tempestuous 90 minutes fought in a traditional Bolton downpour.

Quite how the Whites did not bury Southend after Keshi Anderson had hauled them back on level terms immediately after half time is anyone’s guess.

They huffed and they puffed but Phil Brown pulled a stubborn point right out of the Sam Allardyce playbook and will be justifiably proud his young side held on.

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