Wanderers heading to Wembley

Bolton Wanderers eventually found themselves cruising towards a trip to Wembley Stadium for a cup final with two late quick-fire goals sealing their EFL Trophy final spot, after a dominant performance had been blunted by ten-man Accrington for much of the match. 

Accrington Stanley headed into this EFL Trophy semi-final match in Lancashire with the ambition to reach Wembley Stadium, both old and new, for the very first time ever. Bolton Wanderers, on the other hand, wanted to lay another marker down in their resurgence as a club, both on and off the field.

Line-ups

ACC XI: Jensen, Fernandes, Rodgers, Sangare; Longelo, Coyle, Conneely*, McConville; Leigh, Whalley; Pressley

ACC SUBS: Isherwood, Clark, Nolan, Mancini, Martin Woods, Adekoya

BOL XI: Trafford; Toal, Santos*, Mbete; Bradley, Morley, Sheehan, John; Lee; Kachunga, Charles

BOL SUBS: Dixon, Jones, Khumbeni, Williams, Isgrove, Thomason

Action: The start of the match was fairly even with neither side able to thoroughly dominate either the possession or the territory but it was the visitors who had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring.

Slow and patient build-up eventually led to Bolton captain, Ricardo Santos, finding the room and space to feed an excellent pass through to Dion Charles but the Northern Ireland international striker lacked the composure to out-wit Lukas Jensen in the Accrington goal and the Dane, formerly a loanee of Bolton, managed to do enough to force the ball behind for a corner.

The match continued in a similar pattern: fairly even with Bolton having the more purposeful spells of possession. Eventually, that lack of clarity in the game came to an end with The Trotters beginning to dominate, following the straight red card given to Sean McConville. 

McConville, one of Accrington’s key players, launched himself into a high and dangerous tackle, connecting his stud with Conor Bradley’s knee.

After that moment, Bolton were the team who began to dominate the flow of the game, albeit with a lack of genuinely clear-cut chances.

One clear-cut chance that did occur before half-time came via Elias Kachunga. The former Huddersfield forward was sent through on the right-hand side, with a defender on his shoulder and at a tight angle, but he could only manage to squeeze an effort straight at Jensen.

Due to the man advantage, Wanderers were the team who began the second-half on the front foot with all of their outfielders spending the majority of the match in the opposition half, as had been the case for much of the first-half since McConville’s red. 

A worrying moment did occur a few minutes into the second period when James Trafford, Bolton goalkeeper, collided with Accrington midfielder Liam Coyle. Trafford made he bizarre decision of attempting to take matters into his own hands, when his defender Eoin Toal, appeared to half the situation under control. The on-loan ‘keeper from Manchester City clattered into Coyle and, after a lengthy period of treatment, Coyle was eventually stretchered off the pitch.

Within ten minutes of Coyle’s departure and the restart of the match, Bolton were astounded to have not scored at least one goal. 

Firstly, Dion Charles put the ball in the net from a Conor Bradley pass but the former Accrington striker was deemed offside. Then, shortly after, Kieran Lee passed the ball wide of the Stanley post from a position whereby he seemed destined to notch.

Then a remarkable spell of football, with Bolton hitting the woodwork twice in the matter of seconds, unfolded. After a well worked move down the right, Charles struck at the post from around 12 yards before Declan John’s well-hit follow-up was saved by Jensen and then Aaron Morley aimed a half-volleyed rebound against the cross-bar. The visitors began to get the sense that it could be ‘one of those games’.

Following on from that flurry of chances, that left many amazed the score remained goalless. That was until an almost scripted moment.

Second-half substitute, Gethin Jones, put in a searching cross and, after a melee in the box, Elias Kachunga managed to latch onto the ball and fire hard past the, until then, impressive Lukas Jensen.

A few weeks ago, Dion Charles was sent off for violent conduct but it was actually a case of mistaken identity as it has been Kachunga that lashed out at a Forest Green Rovers defender. The Democratic Republic of Congo international came in for a lot of criticism but Ian Evatt talked up how special and fitting it would be for him to score the goal that takes Bolton to a Wembley cup final.

🗣️ "That is a WONDERFUL goal" 👏

Heartbreak for Accrington as Bolton lead 2-0 💔 pic.twitter.com/3xx9WJc3SU

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 22, 2023

Just a couple of minutes after that opener, Bolton had their second and it was former Rochdale midfielder Aaron Morley with a beauty of an effort. The ball ricocheted its way to the youngster and, with supreme technique, who cut inside on to his right foot and bent the ball with pace into the near bottom corner from around 20 yards out. 

The big picture: The wait for a trip to Wembley for Accrington goes on and the Lancastrians will now have to focus on ensuring survival in League One. Bolton are heading to the national stadium for a cup or playoff match for the 14th time and a promotion/Trophy double is well on the cards for the Whites.

Man of the match: Aaron Morley. With a cultured right foot, Aaron Morley began to run the game after McConville’s dismissal and the hosts’ retreat. His goal capped off a magnificent performance.

Stanley’s next match, in their fight against dropping into the bottom four and the relegation places in England’s third-tier, is a trip to fellow strugglers Burton Albion at the weekend. Wanderers host Port Vale on Saturday as they try to close the gap on the top two, Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday, in the automatic promotion spots.