[Archived] Bolton at Ewood

[DE.]

Good to hear Steele had a good game. He may not be a world beater but he wouldn't be here if he was! Seems good enough for this division, and in Eastwood we seem to have an understudy with some potential. Considering the Kean/Eastwood debacle of last season and Robbo's disappearance, it's nice that goalkeeper probably isn't a position we need to be hugely concerned about.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

First time I saw Cairney I thought he could play in the traditional no 10 role. I'm still not convinced he's got the right attitude to play there but he's got the ability to play that role.

[RevidgeBlue]

Yeah I forgot to give an honourable mention to Steele. He was excellent all night and a couple of match winning saves. Possibly his best all round game in a Rovers shirt ?

Steele was superb tonight, I didn't think we were great defensively but he stopped everything Bolton could throw at him and then some.

He has had afternoons in the past I felt where the opposition only had a couple of efforts on goal but he failed to stop anything. Maybe Eastwood's fine form in the Cup is spurring him on.

[Mike E]

Good to hear Steele had a good game. He may not be a world beater but he wouldn't be here if he was! Seems good enough for this division, and in Eastwood we seem to have an understudy with some potential. Considering the Kean/Eastwood debacle of last season and Robbo's disappearance, it's nice that goalkeeper probably isn't a position we need to be hugely concerned about.

While I agree with the sentiment (and quite like Steele as a keeper, despite his kicking) I take slight, though VERY slight issue with no world beaters being here. We've had Friedel and Tugay!

[chaddyrovers]

https://audioboom.com/boos/2977671-audio-blackburn-onerovers-1-bolton-0-gary-bowyer/embed/v3?image_option=none&link_color=%2355ACEE&source=twitter_card&utm_campaign=detailpage&utm_content=card&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Bowyer's comments after game

[tomphil]

Steele was superb tonight, I didn't think we were great defensively but he stopped everything Bolton could throw at him and then some.

He has had afternoons in the past I felt where the opposition only had a couple of efforts on goal but he failed to stop anything. Maybe Eastwood's fine form in the Cup is spurring him on.

Was thinking the same, he seemed very switched on tonight and his kicking was a lot better.

[AggyBlue]

Boltons thuggery, OTT gamesmanship and an inept referee almost left a bad taste only for JR to add the sweetener at the death.

A well deserved win and all credit to the lads for keeping going.

As already mentioned, the early injuries forced Bowyer to keep Rhodes on until the end, otherwise he'd have been subbed as usual.

[the original david brent]

There'll be about 2.5k by KO probably. A lot from Darwen and that side of Bolton always come down to pay on the day for this.

"A lot from Darwen"?! That's news to me!

I've lived in Darwen all my life, indeed the top end of Darwen heading towards Bolton and I know of 1 Bolton fan. Not many Bolton fans in Darwen at all.

Onto the game, I actually didn't mind it. Steele has looked like a decent keeper in the last few games. Henry, Cairney and Conway all played well.

I also went in the legends lounge for the first time and it was an absolute pleasure to see the anguish on the faces of the pitiful away following beneath me at the end!

[bazza]

I enjoyed the game. It was a bit scrappy. Bolton were a bit dirty and they got away with it because of an abysmal referee.

I thought Rhodes overall performance tonight was very poor and yet he scored. All other players played well.

The goal in the 94th minute sent us into raptures. They could have equalised with the last kick of the match if it hadn't been for a terrific block by someone (Killa?) throwing his body in the way.

Three points!!! Things are looking up.

[bob fleming]

Great result. Happy days!

I thought Bolton played well and closed us down well, nulling the wide men. The referee was diabolical IMO. As one sided to the away team as I've seen for a long time.

Delighted tonight and I look forward to seeing the bolton fan at work tomorrow.

Meanwhile, to keep in the general mood of things, I heard tonight from a reliable sauce that Rhodes is off to Millwall. We'll pay his wages. If he toughens up and learns not to run like a girl and keeps Millwall up, Arsenal will pay upwards of 3 million in the summer. Which Mr Venky (he of snowball fame) will reject. Apparently, it needs Saturn, Juniper and the four siblings AND various Board members to align pockets before any sensible decision can be made.

It's going to be an interesting few months but one things for sure. I'm going to moan like hell and quite possibly never be happy ever again.

Still, we beat Bolton.

[tomphil]

Anyone want any comic style bedtime reading then wankyways is the place. Makes the heart warm. Also It's amazing what some clubs class as fantastic support LOOOOOOOOOOOLL !

[West Yorks Rover]

Anyone want any comic style bedtime reading then wankyways is the place. Makes the heart warm. Also It's amazing what some clubs class as fantastic support LOOOOOOOOOOOLL !

Was reading it earlier, no class at all, and they call us dingles.

[savage90]

Other than the goal terrible game. Brown must be vying for the title of worst striker ever to play for Blackburn Rovers

I thought Brown did well tonight, contributed a lot more than Rhodes (held the ball up well/ won some nice flick ons etc he defended ok too when needed) and looked up for it

[perthblue02]

Nice to wake up to a win over that lot, but more importantly reading through the thread looks like two or three players may have increased in value after last night, wonder which one will magically become unsettled or develop an attitude next, that drinks cabinet doesn't stock itself.

[old darwen blue]

After de Marie sending off on Monday .. Why was the Bolton lad not sent off for pushing the Ref .. ?

Great win and the Bolton lads are gonna get some @#/? dished up tommorow

Answer: Because the ref was useless.

Some keeper that Steely, point blank reflex save in the second half was Banksesque

[blueboy3333]

Steele is potentially an excellent keeper. Same with Eastwood, Add Raya to that list and it's not hard to see why Robbo is on his way. Good squad management by Bowyer.

[Gav]

That pays em back for that cheating **** Diouff diving in the last minute!

[Paul]

Nice to wake up to a win over that lot, but more importantly reading through the thread looks like two or three players may have increased in value after last night, wonder which one will magically become unsettled or develop an attitude next, that drinks cabinet doesn't stock itself.

Can't imagine which players increased their standing last night, the overall standard was average at best.

Why would this be positive?

[gumboots]

Tongue in cheek?

[Rover_Shaun]

Who. Perthblue or Blueboys final comment?

[DE.]

While I agree with the sentiment (and quite like Steele as a keeper, despite his kicking) I take slight, though VERY slight issue with no world beaters being here. We've had Friedel and Tugay!

Present tense, Mike...

[J*B]

Bowyer plays two wingers as wingers, Cairney centrally, doesn't play Hanley and plays an actual right back at right back and as if by magic, we played quite well.

Who would have thought?

[only2garners]

Quite a pattern developing here:

Brown must be vying for the title of worst striker ever to play for Blackburn Rovers with Paul McKinnon.

Not just you Rev but a number of posters seem to have decided that Brown is now the fans' whipping boy.

I thought he had a decent game last night, doing a lot of donkey work up front and linking up the play well.

This time last week I was composing a post about the game at Hillsborough when the site went down. My point then was to say how well Brown had played in that game. Killgallon probably pipped him to man of the match but he was excellent in creating the goal for Rhodes and battering their centre halves all night. On a real mud heap of a pitch he was a throwback to an old 70s centre forward, just what was needed on the night. In contrast, apart from taking a chance well, Rhodes was dreadful. Last night Rhodes was much better, although guilty of putting a great chance straight at the keeper, until changing the game in the 94th minute with another opportunistic goal.

Before the game against Wednesday a number of posters were saying what a good manager Stuart Gray was. This is what he said after the game - "We didn't play at the intensity that we did last Saturday and we couldn't handle the big boy (Chris Brown) up front. He was too physically strong for us." ​He had worked out one of the key differences. Last night there were often two defenders on Brown - I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a result of a scouting report. He's not a hugely gifted footballer but he does a lot of the hard work and often that's as important in getting results in this league.

[Glosrover]

Steele was superb tonight, I didn't think we were great defensively but he stopped everything Bolton could throw at him and then some.

He has had afternoons in the past I felt where the opposition only had a couple of efforts on goal but he failed to stop anything. Maybe Eastwood's fine form in the Cup is spurring him on.

No agenda, genuine question - how did the lad Doniel Henry play at centre back? looks like he had an assist for the goal, and that he's not let anyone down.

[Parsonblue]

Last week the Sheffield Wednesday manager admitted after the game that Brown was the player they couldn't handle - it was his winning of the ball in the air that provided Jordan with his chance. Brown will put in a shift, close defenders down and hold the ball up - things that Jordan can't do. At the end of the day if you are playing with two strikers then you need them to compliment one another and, to a certain extent, both bring something different to the game. Personally, I thought Brown had another good game last night in terms of holding the ball up and laying it off despite being marked by two defenders most of the time. He's certainly not the worst striker I've seen at Ewood by a long way, indeed, considering he was a free I think we've pick up a bargain.