A full strength Bolton side - the only change from Saturday being Samuel in for Robinson - struggled to beat League 1 side Tranmere Rovers in the second round of the Carlin Cup tonight. Wanderers went through 1-0 away from home, the goal scored by Mark Davis in the 40th minute. The only (and I mean only) other item of interest was that ex Wanderer Michael Ricketts came on as a sub for Tranmere.

I don’t think there are any highlights on TV of the game, so it’s unlikely I’ll be able to find any footage of the goal to upload.

Bolton changed Gavin McCann (rumoured to be on his way to Portsmouth) for Mark Davis for the away game at Hull City. And played very well. Until Hull scored, after which point we were rubbish again. And lost 1-0. That being Hull’s first win in 2009.

The bare fact is Bolton are third from bottom on goal difference. I have no doubt whatsoever that if we actually had played Arsenal in the week, instead of the game being postponed, we’d have got a fearful hammering and would now be rock bottom. The new defense that all our money has gone on doesn’t work and worse than that has caused our two most consistent (if limited) player to be dropped. We are completely lacking in creativity and have two strikers who at their best will never be prolific and right now couldn’t hit a barn door with a shotgun.

There is a week until the transfer window closes. If we go into September with the same forward line and midfield we’re playing now, I hold out little hope for more than a season of desperate scrabbling to avoid relegation. I hold out no hope at all that Gary Megson will relent and do what is obviously required to stabilise our defense i.e. drop at least one of our new signings until they’ve had a chance to get to know each other.

It’s simply not good enough.

Kevin Davies and Matt Taylor have both signed contract extensions with The Wanderers. If they’ve got half an ounce of sense, they’ll have snuck in relegation release clauses while they’re at it.

It is reported Ricardo Gardner has damaged a hamstring and will be missing for at least three weeks.

The game at Arsenal tomorrow night has been postponed due to the gunner’s playing a champions league qualifying match that evening. No date has yet been agreed to stage it.

I can’t imagine a much worse start than conceding a goal from a straightforward set piece inside 5 minutes of the start of the season. Yet Bolton did just that when Darren Bent headed past Jussi Jaaskelainen with the game hardly started.Things didn’t get much better after that with the Fin saving Bolton from a hiding with two excellent saves. The only light in the tunnel was a Gary Cahill header just before half time that brought an equally fine save from Sunderland goalkeeper Martin Furlop.
The second half improved somewhat, with Chung-Yong Lee coming on to join the other debutants Simon Davis, Zat Knight, Paul Robinson and Sam Ricketts. To be hoenst with you, the performance in general but one of the new boys really impressed, nor suggested any real improvement over the players they replaced. Gavin McCann also looked completely out of his depth playing right wing. Davis also forced a great save from Furlop in injury time, but the bald fact is Wanderers didn’t play well enough to deserve a point against Sunderland.
While individual player should take responsibility for doing their jobs properly Gary Megson must also take some of the blame for putting so many new players into the team at once - our defensive co-ordination was frankly non-existent. A bad show for everyone and something that will surely do nothing to swell a very thin looking crowd at the Reebok.