I’ve been struggling with motivation to write the past couple of weeks. There, I said it.
With the weather getting nicer and my running training kicking up a notch, as I get closer to my first ever ‘race’ in June, this website has sadly taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks.
Embarrassingly, another factor that has probably affected my mood more than I’d like to admit is the capitulation of Bolton Wanderers’ season.
Being a Wanderers fan has always had its ups and downs but this season, the ups have been very few and far between.
However, while the men continue to disappoint and fall below expectations, the women’s team have been having an absolutely incredible year.
A remarkable first season
After officially being brought back under the club umbrella last summer, they started pretty much from scratch in the sixth tier of women’s football.
While you may not expect the likes of Hindley Juniors, Haslingden or Atherton Laburnum Rovers to prove particularly stiff opposition, the league also features the likes of Preston North End and Accrington Stanley.
But regardless of the names of the teams in the league, what Bolton Wanderers Girls FC Women (to give them their rather interesting official name) have achieved this season is nothing short of remarkable.
Prior to the last match of the season, which was their first ever game at the Reebok (sorry Toughsheet but it will always be called that) they had won an amazing 19 out of 21 league matches, drawing the other two against second and third placed Accrington and Penrith, and scoring a ludicrous 117 goals in the process.
Toughsheet title decider
If they beat Preston in that final game, not only would they win the league and secure promotion, they would be invincibles and double winners (having thrashed Accrington 5-1 in the final of the Lancashire Challenge Cup a couple of weeks ago).
Despite a very lacklustre performance by the men’s team on Good Friday and wanting a bit of a break from the stadium, I felt like I had to get down to support them and possibly witness history.
It was my fourth time watching the team and despite the team’s freescoring nature, I’d only actually seen them score six goals in real life – pretty bad luck considering they seem to score more than that most games!
You could have forgiven the players for being extremely nervous and the quality suffering as a result but, unlike the men’s team, they looked massively up for it pretty much from the first whistle.
One of the squad’s standout players is Faye Knox, a tricky wide player picked up from WSL 2 team Blackburn Rovers, who looks like she’s going to make something happen every time she gets on the ball. Just nine minutes in, exactly that happened as she drove inside from the left and curled her 21st goal of the season into the top corner from 25 yards.
Wanderers controlled the game from there, with Preston very rarely threatening, but until Ocean Flanagan doubled the lead on 58 minutes, there was still a sense that something could go wrong (probably PTSD from 25 years of following the men’s team).
Eboni Bradshaw put it beyond doubt three minutes later with her 15th of the season, taking her total number of goal contributions for the season to 30.
From there it was exhibition stuff and some of the passing and movement on display was honestly a joy to watch.
Set up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, you’d have no idea it was a similar system to the one that the men’s team struggled to get to grips with so badly at the start of the season. The wing backs were pushed high, the wide centre backs were extremely comfortable on the ball and didn’t look out of place pushing up to join the midfield, and the ball was moved with so much more purpose than I’ve become accustomed to. It was a breath of fresh air.
Not only that, but they didn’t seem content with three, they kept pressing high and seemed determined to rack up a big scoreline, which they easily could have done on another day.
Learnings for the men’s team
Schmuacher spoke about desire, enthusiasm and energy in the aftermath of the Wycombe debacle and I genuinely think some of the men’s team could learn something by watching how this really young group of players handled a big pressure game in front of the biggest crowd most of them will have ever experienced.
Seeing them lift the trophy was a lovely moment and one that I’m really glad to have witnessed. There’s still a huge journey ahead of the team and no doubt the squad will evolve as they try and work their way up the leagues, but I left the stadium feeling the most inspired by a set of players since the Junior Whites and if that wasn’t motivation enough to write my first blog post in a couple of weeks, I don’t know what would have been.
You can watch the highlights of the game below.