Ipswich Town column: Martin Lambert sees Bolton Wanderers display demonstrate old deficiencies Kieran McKenna must now solve
McKenna’s hypnosis wears off; Town crash down to earth? However you say it, there isn’t a fun or easy way of describing just how poor Town were in defeat at Bolton on Saturday.
In classic Ipswich Town style, when things look like they may have turned a corner we take two steps forward and three (or four as it feels like writing this Sunday afternoon) back.
A weekend which could have seen Town sneak up on their play-off rivals and move to within five points of a play-off spot and we blew it! We missed the opportunities and while, yes we haven’t lost ground, we haven’t gained any either.
Town boss Kieran McKenna claimed afterwards that we dominated. I’m not quite sure I agree with him on that but what we did do for 70 minutes was dig in, work hard and fight to compete with a Bolton side who are just as aggressive in their fight for survival as we should be for a play-off place.
However, like previous disasters, games are 90 minutes long and competing for 70 isn’t going to cut it. Two individual errors cost us dear. Where have you heard that before!?
The first, while it is an error on Christian Walton when he slipped, is hard to blame the player too much. A slip is a slip. It happens.
However, the second which totally killed us, by George Edmundson is a little harder to not place blame.
A sloppy back-pass was seized upon by Oladapo Afolayan who has been a thorn in our backsides to score his 10th goal of the season.
Two nil, game over. Good night from Bolton.
They do say, however, that more can be learnt from defeat than from winning, so as the dynamic duo watch back the footage they will now know just what they are facing and ultimately what was Paul Cook’s downfall.
A talented squad that is inconsistent and lacks mettle. It must be their priority to change this.
Up next is tough task after tough task, starting at home to the side directly above us, Accrington Stanley, on Saturday.
Let’s see how we rebound under McKenna and Pert.
