WANDERERS produced their most compelling performance of the season to inflict only the third defeat on champions-in-waiting Birmingham City.
Steven Schumacher’s rejuvenated side recovered from going a goal down midway through the first half to tear through the division’s most expensively assembled squad and win with some room to spare.
John McAtee had fired his side level just before half time but the second half was virtually all Bolton – George Thomason pouncing for the second from close range and Aaron Collins firing a third with the fancied Blues hardly able to muster a reply.
Wanderers made four changes to the team which drew at Wrexham, with Will Forrester forced to pull out of the squad with what the club billed a “minor injury” before the game.
Chris Forino came in for his first start since the Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal in September and there was also a first start in more than 12 months for Carlos Mendes Gomes, who ruptured his Achillies almost exactly a year ago at Wigan.
Eoin Toal and George Thomason also came into the side with Josh Sheehan, Szabi Schon and Alex Murphy also dropped to the bench.
Back in October Bolton had been accused of playing too passively at St Andrew’s and failing to change to a more attacking shape once they had gone behind early on.
Schumacher had promised that his team would play on the front foot, and they certainly did, full deserving to go back down the tunnel all square at 1-1.
If Saturday’s game in North Wales had lacked quality, the first 45 minutes at the Toughsheet more than made up for it. Both sides pressed with purpose, both used the ball well, but when Emil Hansson fired his team into the lead on 23 minutes, finishing off a cross from Taylor Hickman-Gardner, you wondered if Bolton’s early bluster would fade.
Jordi Osei-Tutu had seen one good chance blocked by the legs of Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who was in for the injured Ryan Alsopp, and Aaron Collins also lifted another one over the bar from the left edge of the penalty box.
Birmingham had controlled possession and played out of defence with a swagger that comes from only losing two games in the league all season. Tomoki Iwata and Paik Seung-Ho shifted the ball around immaculately at times but never without the pressure of Thomason or Morley snapping at their heels.
A little bit of frustration started to creep in for Bolton as a couple of refereeing decisions went against them and sensing they could capitalise, the Blues had a five-minute spell where they could have taken the game out of reach.
But just as they had at Wrexham, Wanderers held firm. And they got their reward six minutes before the interval when Mendes Gomes combined with Josh Dacres-Cogley down the right and his ball sent McAtee careering into the penalty box. A cross looked favourite, with Collins unmarked at the far post, but McAtee drilled a shot at the near post which managed to beat Peacock-Farrell and send the home fans into raptures.
Bolton fancied themselves for another before the break. McAtee did get the ball in the net only to be flagged offside and George Johnston sent a header just wide from Morley’s corner.
Only a couple of minutes into the second half Morley nearly put the Whites ahead. A great spell of pressure ended with Osei-Tutu laying the ball off just inside the box and the midfielder blasting a low shot cleared off the line by Ben Davies.
It proved only a brief respite for the visitors, however, as moments later a Morley free kick pinned them back and McAtee headed back for skipper Thomason to score from close range.
Wanderers were rampant and should have also got a man advantage just before the hour when referee Thomas Kirk refused to issue a second yellow card to Gardner-Hickman for either a cynical pull or a clear foul on Osei-Tutu. Unsurprisingly, Chris Davies chose that moment to make a substitution. The irony wasn’t lost on the home crowd when Morley picked up a booking for an identical shirt tug on Iwata not long afterwards.
The pressure continued as Collins whipped a shot just wide but the breakneck speed of the game at that point never looked sustainable. When Birmingham brought on ex-Bolton favourite Lukas Jutkiewicz and their £11milion summer signing Jay Stansfield, you wondered whether they would rediscover some rhythm and get back into the contest.
But the Whites didn’t relent and though Mendes Gomes had to give way to cramp, his replacement Joel Randall ended up creating the third goal with a clever pass for Collins.
Forino very nearly made it four, climbing to meet McAtee’s cross but seeing his effort bounce off the back of Davies’s header and over the bar.
Schumacher even had the luxury of making late changes to save some legs as Birmingham flailed for a reply without ever seriously testing Luke Southwood’s goal after their opener.
It was not only Bolton’s best performance under the new boss, or indeed this season, but their most complete display since the first half of last season, a time when anything still felt possible.
If Wanderers can continue in this sort of vein then we can expect those feelings to start flooding back once again.
