Pre-season friendlies rarely catch the imagination, but after the now traditional Isle of Man tour, Premiership Bolton was to be the feast after the famine. Well, not exactly, but it certainly seemed more promising than the previous fare although it was a little disappointing that only about 4,500 turned up to see it.
The big advantage to my first week working in Manchester was that I was able to go to the game without taking any time off. Unfortunately, after leaving London in 90 degrees of heat on Sunday the weather has been stereotypically Mancunian and hardly stopped raining since I got here. Travelling over the tops and down into Burnley it wasn't so much raining as like driving through a very low cloud, and I did fear the pitch would be very wet and cut up badly.
I need not have worried, as the first thing I noticed as I took my seat in the Longside was that the pitch was immaculate. Looking in the best condition that I think I have ever seen it, it was a perfect surface for passing and both teams took full advantage from the off. It also seems to have been moved slightly further away from the Bob Lord Stand.
Neither team used squad numbers which was very confusing, as for example, Lee Briscoe played number ten! This wasn't so bad for spotting the Burnley players, but barring one or two exceptions it was hard to know who was playing for Bolton (but then I didn't really care). The Clarets started 4-4-2 with Nik in goal; West, Davis, Gnohere and Branch across the back; Little, Grant, Briscoe and Alan Moore in midfield; and Taylor and Ian Moore up front. Bolton matched formation, and had Jay Jay Okocha and Ricketts as well as old adversary Per Frandsen in the starting line-up.
Bolton settled the quicker, and had a couple of good moves and flashed shots across the goal. Okocha had seemingly been given a free role as, although mainly on the right, he often drifted in-field. A good block from Davis and a superb last-ditch sliding tackle from Branch prevented Nik being tested. Then a good shout for a penalty was turned down when Ricketts was brought down by a combination of Arthur and Davis. More worryingly, Arthur was left on the ground in pain after injuring his knee in the challenge. The good news is that he did seem to run it off without too much trouble.
However Bolton were not having it all their own way and the Clarets had a number of good chances, with Grant having a chance after a Taylor knock-down, but the ball bounced up and he couldn't get enough power on his header. A header from Taylor and one from Davis threatened to break the deadlock, and Little had two good shots saved. Little and West were again linking well, and Alan Moore was playing well down the left. Briscoe and Grant were busy in the middle and Taylor was winning most things in the air up front. At the back, Arthur snuffed out Ricketts with an air of nonchalance time and again, and Branch had a very good game at left back. I did say that, didn't I? His tackling was excellent, his covering play, ball control and distribution were all first class and overall he seemed very comfortable. Nik had very little to do but made one block with his feet and dropped a cross from a corner, and the only other person was Ian Moore (who had one or two chances to make a run, but overall was the least effective Claret).
A good move from Bolton then led to the best chance so far, when Ricketts hit a side-foot volley over the bar when it looked like he must score. Then as an entertaining first half was drawing to a close and we were all dreaming of balti pies, a free kick on the left was curled into the box by Briscoe, and Taylor rose above the defence and powered home a header past Jaaskelainen. Déjà vu? A fantastic run by Little in which he beat four defenders without seeming to touch the ball finished with a mis-hit left foot shot flying wide. One-nil to the Clarets at half time, and probably just about deserved on balance of play.
Bolton changed the entire team at half-time, and the Clarets made a number as well as they changed to a back three to accommodate Blake playing behind Papa and Taylor up front. Broomes played at the back with Davis and Arthur; Branch and Little at wing back; Cook and Grant in the middle. Beresford apparently had a knock and wasn't risked.
The second half had hardly started when the Clarets defence stood off an advancing Bolton player, and he drilled a shot into the corner from 20 yards. A soft goal that won't have pleased Stan, as Burnley were caught cold. Little again threatened down the right and Papa headed narrowly wide as he struggled to reach a far post cross. As the half wore on, the Clarets gained more of the possession but aside from a couple of Blake shots that fizzed just wide the chances were few and far between, especially after the departure of Little and Taylor. The game fizzled out as both teams settled for passing the ball without going anywhere. Stan switched his formation at least twice more, finishing with a 4-3-3 formation with the midget attack of Papa, Payts and Blakey2. I feel sorry for Payts, as Stan had even subbed players back on before he finally got his chance, and by then the game was on its way out. He looked lively, fairly fit and put in plenty of effort. Hopefully he still has a role to play at Burnley, as I still think he is a better goalscorer than Ian Moore. Talking of which I think the only change that may happen for the first game of the season from this starting line-up is Blake for Ian Moore, but even that is very doubtful.
Looked like we didn't pick up any injuries, so add Marlon and Weller to the players on display and we should have a reasonable squad. Biggest plus was the performance of Blake, biggest minus probably the poor turnout for an entertaining game.
Subs: Broomes, Armstrong, Cox, McGregor, Cook, Papadopoulos, Blake, Payton.
Scorers: Taylor / Pedersen.
Attendance: 4,561.
Referee: Not known.
Cozzo's man of the match: Gareth Taylor.
Heads and Tayls