Poor performance from Bolton at Burton Albion

Burton Albion 3 - 0 Bolton Wanderers

Jake Beesley struck twice as Burton Albion claimed a comfortable win over Bolton 

Author | Curtis R

Stadium | Pirelli Stadium

Kick-off

Gary Bowyer’s side recorded their first home victory in League One since the opening day of the campaign, lifting themselves clear of the relegation zone in the process.

Sam Dalby missed a trio of good chances as he continued his search for a first league goal for the Trotters, the best of which came inside two minutes when Finn Delap produced a superb block to deny him an open net.

Albion made Bolton pay for those early misses in the 27th minute when Beesley converted his second penalty of the season after Charlie Webster was brought down by Max Conway.

Burton Albion penalty

Tavares doubled the lead three minutes after the restart, following up to score at the second attempt after connecting with Dylan Williams’ cross.

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Bolton pushed hard to respond, with substitutes Marcus Forss and John McAtee both going close and Brad Collins producing fine saves to deny Chris Forino-Joseph and Mason Burstow.

Beesley completed the victory in stoppage time, turning home from close range to seal a much-needed win for Burton.

Another concerning away performance for Bolton

Occasional GM News contributor Mark Scott was in the Bolton end and reflected on what went wrong for Bolton. He told us: “As usual, we started well and missed two very good chances early on, but then we conceded a penalty around the 20th minute to go 1-0 down. ‘Unbelievable!’, ‘Not again’, ‘Will we never learn?’ rang out from the terraces. It deflated the fans and you could see it affected the players too. Heads went down and stayed down.”

He added: “Burton were quicker to every ball and wanted it more. We just got worse as the game went on, and it was no surprise when they scored their second and eventually a third late on. We were dreadful on the day, and I cannot think of a single player who performed well. There was nobody out there trying to lift the team, and all five substitutes made no difference whatsoever.”