WANDERERS need a miracle in the back half of the season if they are to achieve their goal of automatic promotion after dropping a further two points to struggling Shrewsbury.
Ian Evatt had said in the build-up to the match that “anything can happen”, but few expected Bolton to melt down as they did in the first half and give up a 2-1 lead at half-time.
Cameron Jerome had drawn the Whites level after Daniel Udoh had opened the scoring, but Jordan Shipley’s powerful strike gave the Shrews an advantage their traveling supporters could hardly believe.
Paris Maghoma drew Bolton level with almost twenty minutes remaining, setting up a grandstand finish that simply never came.
Evatt finished with three forwards up front, but his team struggled to create any meaningful chances, and when a speculative strike from Jack Iredale struck the frame of the goal in the dying moments, you knew the game was over.
Portsmouth claimed the championship with a win over Barnsley and Bolton now have three points to catch up on Derby over the course of their last two games, with an inferior goal difference.
Wanderers were forced into changes, with Gethin Jones and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson reporting injuries after the Portsmouth match, Ricardo Santos not at risk due to his ongoing calf problem and Josh Sheehan rested on the bench.
Kyle Dempsey, Jack Iredale and Will Forrester were brought in, but the inclusion of veteran Jerome for only his second league start of the season was the one that raised the most eyebrows among the expectant home crowd.
Few expected that the striker – at 37 years, eight months and two days – would be one of the few players who could say they had done themselves justice as Wanderers trailed 2-1 at half-time and jogged through the tunnel with the noise . of disgruntled supporters ringing in their ears.
Throughout the opening twenty minutes, Bolton played with the same kind of energy they had shown against Pompey, with Aaron Collins hopping around and seeming to thoroughly enjoy creating shots from every conceivable distance and angle.
The Welshman was denied by an extended save from Marko Marosi. Jerome also saw a header bounce off the post and a second corner was cleared a yard from goal as the pressure mounted.
Collins scored a brilliant run moments later and appeared to cross for Jerome in the middle, forcing Joe Anderson into an emergency intervention.
It all seemed to be going Bolton’s way until a poor pass from Jack Iredale put them behind. Josh Dacres-Cogley made one well-timed clearance but moments later the Shrews were back on the attack after Nat Ogbeta was caught on the ball, Tom Bloxham sprinting a full 50 yards to the right before pulling back a cross for Udoh to get in the ball to bury. bottom corner.
Shrewsbury had not scored in 22 league games to that point, so you can perhaps forgive how long it took to celebrate the goal. After that, the time wasted was truly astonishing.
Marosi made another solid save from Paris Maghoma, who did his utmost to revive the suffocating atmosphere, but Bolton looked bereft of ideas and Chey Dunkley could have made it two by heading straight at Nathan Baxter from a corner .
After a period of fear that the pace would never return to the match, Collins turned well to push a ball through for Jerome, who molested a Morgan Feeney error to win a corner.
The ball came in, bounced off two or three players, but eventually to Jerome, who poked it into the net for his first league goal since October 2022 – or 549 days.
This made him the sixth oldest goalscorer in Bolton history, sandwiching him between Les Ferdinand and Gudni Bergsson.
Surely that would be the catalyst for more? No luck. Wanderers conceded a corner almost straight from the restart and in a move reminiscent of David Beckham and Paul Scholes’ old set at Manchester United, Elliott Bennett found Jordan Shipley who raced past Baxter from the edge of the penalty area.
A paltry four minutes of added time were offered at the end of the half, half of which was ironically eaten up by the Shrews’ clever play.
Wanderers attacked straight from the restart, with Kyle Dempsey having a close-range effort that went wide after connecting with Dacres-Cogley’s cross.
Collins pushed his way through again but was blocked by Marosi, and as the ball looped Ogbeta tried to push it over the line instead of using his head, giving Morgan Feeney the opportunity to clear it off the line to cut away.
Maghoma took the lead again and tried to get some pace into the match. He almost leveled for the Whites after taking a short corner and dribbling down the line before being thwarted by Marosi at the near post.
Wanderers called up Charles to replace Jerome after 66 minutes, and the desperation levels increased further. Dempsey thought he had scored when he tapped Ogbeta’s cross towards goal, but was again denied by the stubborn Marosi.
Then, with just under twenty minutes to go, the breakthrough finally came. Collins and Dempsey combined on the right, a cross pulled back to the edge of the box where Maghoma – cool if you like – struck the ball with his instep to beat Marosi. Game continues.
George Thomason almost topped his goal against Blackpool with a 25-yard thunderbolt that whistled just wide.
With eight minutes to go, Evatt went for it, swapping midfielder Dempsey with striker Dan Nlundulu and making his return after five months out injured.
The Whites toiled and teased, but they could make nothing clear. A meager five minutes of stoppage time seemed to drift away in the blink of an eye.
Iredale thought he had scored when Maghoma’s shot fell to him at the far post and he fired at goal from his left, only to see the ball bounce off the outside of the post. In those small margins lies the difference between success and failure.
“We stay standing!” sang the Shrews fans, their team now safe barring a mathematical miracle. Something similarly magical will be needed if Bolton is to climb above Derby now. Time for another play-off.