Ken Anderson addresses the club's supporters on bwfc.co.uk
Games are certainly coming thick and fast as we reach this point of the season and as I write these notes, the team are on their way to Oxford after collecting nine points from three games in the last week which has moved us up to second in the league standings with a game in hand.
Even despite falling behind on Saturday, the determination shown by the players after a long and arduous week was so pleasing to see and I don’t think anybody could begrudge us the victory following the final whistle.
Of course, the game saw Adam Le Fondre score his fourth goal in three games, with Alfie showing exactly why we fought to bring him back to the club back in January.
Like the team as a whole, he is playing with a smile on his face and long may that continue.
It was also hugely pleasing to see Filipe Morais get off the mark too, especially given his exploits in terms of assists in recent weeks. Whilst reading the column of Alan Houghton, who heads up the BWSA, I found his referral to his town’s motto of ‘Supera Moras’ – or ‘Supera Morais’ – very appropriate.
Translated from Latin, it speaks of overcoming difficulties – a very ironic reference given the hard work put in by all at the football club this season to get us into an extremely promising position heading into the final stretch of the campaign.
We have some true warriors in the team too, especially the likes of Jay Spearing and Darren Pratley who have battled against the odds to get back into the mix much earlier than we anticipated in our fight for promotion.
With only nine games left, we need everybody to be at their best and their inclusions will only strengthen our bid.
Hopefully, our winning run of late will continue at Oxford on Tuesday night and help us move further clear of the chasing pack, but as I keep telling myself, there will be many twists and turns before the end of the season and it is important that we only focus on one game at a time.
I hope to see as many of you as possible meanwhile at our away games this week. It will also be superb to see yet another sell-out on our travels at Shrewsbury Town this coming Saturday.
As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, your backing has been imperative this season and I think that was again clear to see on Saturday against Northampton, with your efforts ultimately playing a big part in the referee eventually giving us a penalty after numerous ones being turned down.
Even when we went a goal down, you were still right behind the team and were the epitome of a twelfth man. The character, spirit and drive shown by the players and yourself will ultimately pull us over the line and we need to be relentless in each and every game between now and April 30.
I was also pleased to see the atmosphere prior to the game ramping up. It is important that we make our home ground an intimidating place for visiting teams from the word go and that has certainly been the case of late.
The manager and Ben Alnwick both commented on the importance of your backing at the weekend and with that in mind, I hope to see as many of you as possible at our upcoming home games, especially against Chesterfield where tickets are just £5 across the board and can be bought HERE.
I have also been pleased to see many of you sporting your colours with pride having taken advantage of our discounted home and away shirts. They are still available, so please visit Bolton Central or www.bwfcdirect.co.uk to get yours and show your support for the team.
Off the pitch meanwhile, our commitment to the Academy and retaining our Category Two status remains as strong as ever, something which has been demonstrated by the purchase of a dome to cover one of the artificial pitches at our Lostock training ground.
Following our successful planning application last year, the new dome - funded by the BWDA - will be completed in time for the start of next season.
This £400k purchase shows how important the great work of the BWDA is to the club and I urge all supporters to support wherever possible. Details of how you can join can be found HERE.
Finally, I am pleased to see that the Supporters’ Trust are now a year old and I look forward to working together with them in the future on various projects.
We have already held discussions as to how they could help the club on assisting in the funding of the Academy and training ground projects at the end of this season and I am excited at the prospect of strengthening our relationship with them from hereon in.
As usual, be loud, be proud and get behind the team.
Kind regards,
Ken