A very strong SAFC line up took to the field at Hetton last night. Craig Gordon, Michael Turner, Ahmed Elmohamady, David Meyler, Frazier Campbell and Ji Dong-Wong were all included in the first eleven. Out of all of these players though, it was Campbell that most had come to see. With Sunderland lacking any quick, pacy strikers the pressure is on the lad to get back in the team ASAP, especially after Bendtner’s injury on Saturday. Campbell doesn’t seem to have lost any of the pace he had before his injury. He was fleeing about, making tackles here, there and everywhere. He still appeared to lack match fitness slightly- his first touch isn’t what it could be- but he’s made a great recovery, and hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.

During the first ten minutes of the game, it was a fairly open scrappy affair. In the eleventh minute, however, Meyler played a long ball over the top to Campbell who just managed to keep it in, flicking it to a defender. He then somehow managed to sprint back, get a tackle in and give the ball to Elmo, who played the ball across the box, but Lynch could only fire over. Just a minute later though, SAFC took the lead, Lynch redeeming himself to smash in from a corner.

In the 15th minute, Lynch nearly got his and SAFC’s second, narrowly missing past the far post after a good team move. It took SAFC 23 minutes to fashion another chance after Bolton had started to become a threat and created a couple for themselves. Campbell did well to win a tackle by the half way line, then even better to play in Elmo on the right. The Egyptian waited for Ji to make the run, but he could only play it behind the Korean. The final meaningful act of the first half was an Elmo shot that was straight at the keeper from a tight angle.

At half time, we were deservedly winning 1-0, but without any real zest. We couldn’t see if there were any scouts or managers in the stand, as it was “sold out” despite various empty seats. If there had been, I’m sure they’d have been impressed by Liam Marrs, a young right back with a lot of defensive and offensive ability, which is what is needed of a modern full back. Adam Reed had another typical “taking no prisoners” game along with David Meyler in what has to be one of the hardest midfield partnerships we’ve had in the reserves for a while.

After just three minutes of the second half, the fans thought we were 2-0 up, Ji latching home from an Elmo cross. Unfortunately, the ball to Elmo had been offside in the first place. There was only one more chance to be had in a lethargic second half, Bolton’s striker missing a sitter after Gordon had done really well to keep out the rebound. We made various changes, both Ji and Elmo getting great receptions from the relatively decent sized crowd, taking time to sign autographs as they made their way around the pitch to the changing rooms. However, the changes did little to bring the game to life, and the score stayed the same.

One to look out for: Liam Marrs. As previously mentioned, he looks very good at getting up and down the flanks, and kept Bolton’s winger in his pocket.

SAFC: Gordon, Marrs, Liddle, Reed, Turner, Bagnall, Elmohamady (Deacon), Meyler, Campbell (Watson), Ji Dong-Won (Tounkara), Craig Lynch

SAFC 1 Bolton Wanderers 0

Crowd: 727

Michael Glancy