The 2021/22 season saw Wanderers make their return to the third tier after just a year away following an automatic promotion at the first attempt from Sky Bet League Two. We’ve dissected the season to produce a statistical analysis of a largely positive campaign in Sky Bet League One.
Wanderers played 55 matches in all competitions, finishing 9th in the table and 10 points outside of the play-off positions following a run of form that saw Ian Evatt’s men pick up 18 points from the last 8 matches of the season.
Reaching the Second Round of the Carabao Cup, First Round of the FA Cup, and the Northern Section Quarter-Final of the Papa John’s Trophy, Wanderers won 25 of their 55 matches, with 13 draws and 17 defeats.
Of the 46 league fixtures, Wanderers won 21 of them with 10 draws and 15 defeats, with a total of 73 points to show for their season’s efforts. A high position of 3rd in the table was achieved following a 5-2 victory at Ipswich Town in September, with the lowest position of 18th occurring following a 2-0 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers in January.
Reviewing the success at both ends of the field, the team managed an impressive 89 goals in all competitions, with 68 goals conceded at the other end.
Wanderers kept a total of 15 clean sheets, and of the three goalkeepers to feature during the 2021/22 campaign, James Trafford and Joel Dixon were tied with 7 each, with Matt Gilks claiming a solitary shut-out against Wigan Athletic in the Carabao Cup.
Across the season, excluding additional minutes at the end of the first half and second half of matches, George Johnston played the most minutes for Wanderers during the 2021/22 season with a total of 3,996 minutes. Dapo Afolayan ranked second with 3,894 minutes, Ricardo Almeida Santos third with 3,817 minutes, and MJ Williams fourth with 3,741 minutes.
Dapo Afolayan was the top scorer for Wanderers with 14 goals in all competitions, and across the campaign, 20 different players managed to get their name onto the scoresheet on at least one occasion. Amadou Bakayoko registered the best goals per minute ratio, with a goal every 116 minutes. If a player had played every minutes of the season for Wanderers and carried the same ratio throughout that period of time – they would have scored 42 goals. Incredible.
Wanderers ranked similarly in the total home form table and the total away form table. Ranking 10th for their form at the University of Bolton Stadium (43 points), Ian Evatt’s men ranked 9th for their form away from home (30 points), finishing the campaign unbeaten in five matches on their travels.
Interestingly, Dapo Afolayan won the most tackles (78), with MJ Williams second (58), just ahead of Ricardo Almeida Santos (56). MJ Williams topped the pass completion charts for Wanderers with 83.5%. Ricardo Almeida Santos ranked second with 82.7% and January acquisition Aaron Morley third with 81.2% completion.