BWFC v Rotherham

I must confess to being underwhelmed by Parky’s selection. The idea that Oztumer might have to be protected from rough house treatment from Rotherham is laughable. Why wasn’t he in the starting eleven, wheras the dreadful Wilson and increasingly feeble Williams were? Williams sadly is another Olkowski who has declined sharply under the dead hand of Parky. Also, what on earth has Little done to be overlooked at right back in favour of Lowe ( he didn’t do that badly, but is not a full back in the modern game).

Those gripes aside, a typically listless and passive start by wanderers set the tone for a drab opening thirty minutes. Then , in less than five minutes we saw the good ( a neat cross shot into the corner to give us the lead) and the bad ( an idiotic free kick from which they pegged us back) of ameobi.
The midfield showed little fight, were pushed off the ball too easily, the defence looked anxious and the attack was non existent. in fact, we went to pot for the rest of the half and went in derservedly not ahead.

The second half was a battle of attrition between two teams with little skill and even less creativity and imagination. Thankfully it was O’Neil who snatched the winner. A much needed three points, but if Parky claims this is a new dawn, he’s deluding himself. We played much as we have donein many of the narrow defeats. this time we scraped a couple of goals and just held out.Phew! But confidence in Parky has certainly not flooded back to me.

Hallelujah! A win at last.

Full of effort but, like the old grump that I am, I have to say that it was because we played a very poor side in Rotherham.

I can’t see us beating Stoke if we play like that.


The majority of the game – from both teams – was hoofball football with very little quality football on display.

The manager made his usual changes but we lined up as a 4-4-2. Doidge and Donaldson were upfront; although Doidge had to drop back when Rotherham had the ball. We thankfully left out our 2 ineffective wingers and had Ameobi on the left – at last – while O’Neill was played on the right but a bit deeper.

Olkowski was dropped and Lowe played right back with Wilson in defensive midfield.

And, of course, NO OZTUMER – I DESPAIR!


The first half was poor quality from both sides. Because of the hoofball and the poorish quality of both defences, the ball did get into both areas a bit.

Rotherham’s 2 strikers knocked Beevers and Wheater (and Alnwick on one occasion) about which was strange when you consider that one of them was Jamie Proctor. Wheater and Beevers were definitely uncomfortable early on.

There were no major chances until just after half an hour when the ball broke in midfield and O’Neill played one of the few decent passes of the match to put Ameobi in on the left of the area to score with a good shot.


Ahead 1-0 – were we going to win? Wait though we are Bolton Wanderers and Ameobi obliged by giving a needless free kick away down by the corner.


We had all 11 players back but the ball came in for a simple header to float into the corner of the net. Poor poor defending. I know I am old fashioned but if we had had a player covering the post it would have been a simple clearance.

It was just hoofball between the 2 teams for the rest of the half

Second half we pressed but again with hardly any control of the ball – just launching it and Alnwick also made a fine save when Rotherham got through us.

Defensively we had to block a lot of shots/scrambles but we then would lose the ball through a hoof out of defence.

On one occurrence Alnwick caught the ball and rolled it out to Williams followed by 2 decent passes and we were on the edge of their area without a hoof in sight but it was a one-off event and we reverted to type.

At around the hour mark, we suddenly had a spell of pressure with Williams having a shot blocked and the effort rising a bit and then suddenly the ball broke for us on the left for it to be drilled across the 6 yard box but no one could get a boot to it but O’Neill, on the right of the area, calmly controlled it on his left, turned onto his right and fired into the far corner. A very neat finish.

We couldn’t get a 3rd to settle the nerves. Rotherham bombarded the area but some sterling blocking and heading held firm.

Just about a deserved win but I must stress that Rotherham were poor.



So 3 points at last and let’s hope for a confidence boost. I have to say, though, that we produced some of the poorest passing you could ever see and probably the most hoofs in any match. Passes went behind men or well away from them. But we scored 2 goals from open play so let’s be happy





Alnwick - 7 A couple of decent saves – one in particular in the second half. In addition, a couple of dreadful flaps plus the usual poor kicking.

Lowe - 7 Much better than when he plays defensive midfield. A lot of hoofs but also some solidity.

Wheater - 6 Like Bambi on ice for the first 20 minutes when their giant centre forward knocked both him and Beevers about. Some good blocking.

Beevers - 6 Had a difficult centre forward to handle but did some solid desperate defensive work.

Taylor - 6 He always seems so casual and slow. Each throw in he takes seems to take half a minute.

Wilson - 5 His first 4 passes went straight to opposition shirts but also did some decent desperate defending. His main ball out of defence though was a hoof.

Williams - 6 Stupidly booked but worked really hard. His passing needs to improve significantly.

O’Neill - 8 Surprising played right midfield and did well. Put the pass in to get Ameobi through for the first goal and took his chance well.

Ameobi - 6 Took his goal very well and put in some good bits of trickery but gave a needless free kick away for their goal and late in the game gave the ball away a couple of times needlessly.

Doidge - 5 Still struggling with the physical side of the game which is a pity because somewhere in him is a football brain. He is our best hope of a goal sniffer.

Donaldson - 5 Worked hard but was knocked about by a physical defence and struggled to hold the ball up.

Magennis - 6 Charged around as usual and blasted a free kick through the wall to get a good save.

Well it sounds as though the only thing that improved today was the score so we'll just have to take that because boy did we need it. I fully expect us to be back to one up top for the game against Stoke with 8 defensive players and wrong footed wingers with no ambition to win the game, just try no to lose. The problem is that we desperately need wins now to get us out of the bottom three. Like others said, it was again disappointing not to see Oz and Vela in the team. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see both leave next month as they clearly don't fit Parkinson's Neanderthal systems. Obviously the downside of the win is that we keep Parkinson but to be honest he's a dead man walking when the club ownership changes so we are stuck with him until then however results go. At least we got the points so let's hope for a surprise and 3 more against Stoke despite my serious doubts.

The thing about football attendances is I believe that they count season ticket holders and others even if the do not go.
Should be re-titled tickets sold to be really truthful, then attendance really means people through the door.
Not likely as would demonstrate unpopularity.

I anticipated a draw, so the extra 2 points is a bonus. Like some others, I am a season ticket holder but didn't go to the game. I want to see entertaining football - passing, movement, shots, crosses and not the mind numbing defensive hoof ball that is served up every week. I've had enough. I've written off the cost of my season ticket. It's too depressing to go to the game but I was starting to consider going to the Stoke game, but having read the feedback above, I think I'll stay away again. I went to the away game at Stoke, we got stuffed there and we'll get stuffed again on Saturday.

Although in different leagues, Wimbledon's manager (Neal Ardley) decided to walk away a few weeks back after a bad run similar to but not quite as bad as ours and Franky Bunn just got sacked with a better record than Parky. If Parky is to be sacked, it should have been a few weeks back to give time to find a new manager and let him assess the team and do some wheeler dealing. Sadly, I can't see anything but relegation and mind numbing hoof ball for the remainder. If only Parky had a conscience like Ardley....

I get the sense from BN reports today that PP is back in full pomp. Proud a peacock knowing his brilliant football mind is now unquestionable. After another win.

Sort of reminds me of a pub quiz player who gets one right, most others no idea on, spends all night banging on about hiw he knew it.

Some of his comments today "sometimes we change the team, sometimes we keep it"

Whens that then?

Apparently when we signed Lowey(and beholdy-i do cringe at this adding Ys on to names. Grown man, meant to be a professional) anyway when we signed him in the summer loads of managers told Parky hes a solid midfielfer but an even better right back. Well come December 26th and well sharp as a pin Parky only throws him in at right back and the crowd go wild and PARKY wins the game!!

Also vindicated enough to tell us that Wildschut and Oz are just not good enough in the final 3rd to make a squad of 18.

Not with the likes of Nooney, Buckleyly and Donaldony all tearing it up.

Sam Ricketts ain’t doing too bad a job at Shrewsbury if you compare his record to Parkinsons, he might’ve a shout for the future