Fan Report: Bolton Reserves 0-1 Everton Reserves

A youthful Toffees side ended Bolton’s three game winning streak at the County Ground with a fine 1-0 win.

Bolton included first team fringe players Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Vaz Te and Riga in their starting line-up.

Everton began well and could have been 1-0 up as early as the second minute.  Good work down the wing by Adam Forshaw ended with him whipping in a fine cross for Agard but the 20 year olds header powered wide.

The game was an end-to-end affair and Bolton threatened at times with Aaron Mooy pulling the strings for them in centre midfield.   Agard almost capitalised on a poor backpass by Mark Connolly but he failed to connect well with the shot and only managed to find the keeper.

The Toffees appeared to be causing a lot of danger down the left hand side with Jake Bidwell and Nathan Craig combining well time and time again. Both sides created chances throughout the first half an hour without any clear cut sign of a goal scoring opportunity. This almost changed for Everton on 26 minutes when a Forshaw corner found the head of James Wallace and the skippers’ bullet header looked destined for the top corner. Unfortunately, it went narrowly over and Everton appeared to be in the ascendancy.

Ten minutes before the break, Shittu came close from a header but failed to hit the target. The Toffees looked lively and a goal didn’t seem too far away as half time closed in. The final clear cut chance of the half came five minutes before the break. Smart interplay between Shane Duffy and Jose Baxter resulted in Duffy having a shooting opportunity but the 17-year old failed to find the target.

Half time arrived and the Blues were maybe unfortunate not to be in the lead.  After the break, Andy Holden brought on Cody Arnoux to replace Seamus Coleman prompting a defensive reshuffle.  From the kick off, Bolton began a 20 minute spell of pressure which somehow didn’t produce a goal.

Adam Davies was in fine form in the Blues’ goal, keeping out Riga, Michael O’Halloran and Vaz Te in the space of ten minutes with superb saves. Wanderers almost went ahead on the hour as Riga hit a sublime 20 yard volley towards the top corner but Davies somehow managed to make the save.

With twenty minutes to go, the tide turned. Fine work down the left by Cody Arnoux resulted in him finding space for a cross into the area. He found Agard to perfection and the powerful striker fired home from close range to make it 1-0 to the Blues.

Three minutes later, Bolton introduced lightning fast winger Zoltan Harsanyi into the game. Bolton pressed forward after the goal but the Toffees defence stayed strong in a fantastic rearguard performance.  James Wallace and Aristotle Nsiala were solid as a rock at centre half with very little getting through, reducing Bolton to long range efforts.

As the clock ran down, Bolton piled on the pressure but Everton’s young side showed maturity beyond their years to stay strong and clear away any threat. On 85 minutes, Bolton’s top scorer Danny Ward missed the best chance of the game, powering a header towards goal from the penalty spot which Davies, at full stretch, managed to tip away.

As the pressure continued to rise, the Toffees looked a bit more composed, with Jose Baxter almost capitalising on a rapid break before his effort was cleared by Shittu.  This was followed up by a dreadful backpass from Shittu which Agard very nearly capitalised on, only denied by a brilliant block by Adam Bogdan.

The final whistle seemed to take a lifetime to arrive but was extremely welcome when it did.

My man of the match goes to Kieran Agard who put in a sterling performance against the mammoth Danny Shittu for the whole 90 minutes.

Everton stay 8th in the table after this hard earned victory and will look to push on in the Merseyside derby on 3rd November.

By Martyn Biddulph