Bolton Wanderers suffered a 3-1 pre-season loss on the road to Carlisle United yesterday.
The Cumbrians took the lead against the Whites as Ryan Edmondson capitalised on a defensive mix-up at the back for Bolton to put the hosts in front. The League Two side doubled their advantage before half-time from a set piece after Ben Barclay headed home.
Wanderers halved the deficit after the break when Aaron Morley fired home from the penalty spot after former Carlisle midfielder Kyle Dempsey had been brought down in the box. But Carlisle restored their two goal advantage when another defensive lapse saw Kristian Dennis add their third which ensured a 3-1 victory for the hosts and Bolton's second loss for the first team in pre-season.
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Here, we analyse the loss from a Wanderers perspective and pick out four things we noticed at Brunton Park.
Morley thrives in MJ Williams role experiment
One of the main plus points from an otherwise frustrating afternoon at Brunton Park came in the form of Wanderers' goalscorer. Morley was up there with the best performers on the day for Ian Evatt's side.
Last season, Morley often had MJ Williams alongside him in the heart of the engine room, but this was not the case against the Cumbrians. Instead, Morley occupied the role Williams often does for the Whites as he sat in front of the back four.
And Morley looked impressive in the role, where it allowed him to exercise his impressive range of passing, but also include the likes of Kyle Dempsey and George Thomason in the same team. In certain games this season where the defensive capabilities of Williams are not perhaps needed as much, it could prove to be an exciting option Evatt could turn to.
Thomason continues to make starting case in impressive pre-season
Central midfield is arguably the most competitive area of Bolton's squad, when all in that department are fit and firing. Josh Sheehan is expected to return soon to complement the likes of Morley, Williams, Dempsey and Kieran Lee.
George Thomason is the least experienced of these options, but has impressed so far in pre-season after being granted opportunities. His best performance of the past few weeks was arguably against Watford in midweek, but put in a decent one too against the Cumbrians.
The 21-year-old has reached almost 50 appearances since making his debut for Wanderers in November 2020. He will be aiming to add further to that number this campaign and has done his chances of doing so no harm whatsoever with his pre-season showing.
Defensive lapses and mistakes prove costly
Some of Wanderers' most frustrating weaknesses rose their heads once again in the loss to the Cumbrians. Cheifly, these were sloppy mistakes and set pieces.
For the opening strike, skipper Ricardo Santos misjudged a pass to Kyle Dempsey and led to the Cumbrians getting their noses in front. A few sloppy errors were on show for the final goal of the game as Carlisle got their third.
And sandwiched inbetween was one of Bolton's now infrequent but still present Achilles' heel in the form of set pieces. Wanderers failed to deal with a corner successfully and the result was Carlisle doubling their advantage before half-time.
Fortunately, this was a pre-season friendly and no points or prizes are handed out on such occasions. Wanderers will aim to learn from this and get errors such as these out of their system before the trip to Portman Road at the end of this month.
Places still up for grabs for Ipswich Town opener
There is now a fortnight to go until Wanderers begin their League One campaign on the road against Ipswich Town. Apart from injured duo Lloyd Isgrove and Josh Sheehan, all the first team squad have been given opportunities to impress in recent weeks.
It has been a relatively lean summer in terms of recruitment at Wanderers with Jack Iredale the only permanent signing so far, though that is poised to become two with the acquisition of fellow defender Eoin Toal from Derry City. Loanees James Trafford and Conor Bradley have added reinforcements in the goalkeeping and wing-back options respectively.
Minutes were given even further to players throughout the squad at Brunton Park as others were given a chance to impress and get time in their legs out on the pitch. The team which starts the first game of the season is likely to have a few changes to it to the one which started versus the Cumbrians.
But the starting team next week against Huddersfield Town in the final run out before the competitive action gets under way at the end of July will give the clearest indication yet of which players Evatt will pick for the opening day. But it's fair to say that at this moment in time after a frustrating performance against the Cumbrians, places will still be up for grabs for the opening day.
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