PARKINSON IS SO FOND OF HIS ACE SUPER-SUB
Alfie leveller ‘just like Van Basten’
BOLTON boss Phil Parkinson compared substitute Adam Le Fondre’s wonderstrike to one of an old Dutch master after seeing his side come from behind to earn a vital point against in-form Fulham.
Despite their lowly position, Bolton have lost just once at home since September, and put in a very creditable performance to earn a point against one of the Championship’s most devastating attacking sides.
Matt Targett gave the Bees an early lead with his first senior goal, but Le Fondre struck an incredible half-volley from a bouncing long ball to draw Bolton level.
“It’s Van Basten-esque in the way he’s hit it,” said Parkison. “That goal was earned from the training ground – and not just his goal but his all-round play. He got on, gave the team a lift, and obviously I’m delighted with it.
“I’ve spoken to him quite a bit during the season that we need him, if he is a sub, to give us a lift. He’s got the record for Premier League goals off the bench when he was at Reading.
“He is a great sub. He doesn’t want to be known as just a good sub, but it is important that if he is on the bench, he comes on and makes the impact.
“Games can be won or lost from the bench. Last week we got a lift
when Cloughie came off the bench, and here we’re got a huge when when Alfie’s come off it.”
Wanderers must have feared the worst when the visitors pulled ahead after just four minutes, with Targett arriving in the box to nod in Lucas Piazon’s knock-down from a Ryan Sessegnon cross.
Zach Clough and Josh Vela both had speculative long-range efforts beaten away by Marcus Bettinelli, with Clough spurning the most clear-cut chance of the first half.
Sammy Ameobi did wonderfully to carve out the space after taking down Ben Alnwick’s punt forward, but Clough shot straight at Bettinelli.
Slavisa Jokanovic recognised the need for something different and threw on Aboubakar Kamara and Aleksander Mitrovic early in the second half. The two combined immediately, with Mitrovic playing the perfect square ball to Kamara on the edge of the box, only for him to miscue and kick more air than ball.
Le Fondre showed Kamara how this impact substitute lark works eight minutes later. He had not been on the pitch a minute when he found himself running onto a long ball before spanking a preposterous half-volley into the top corner from outside the box at a difficult angle.
Both sides had chances to win it in the last ten minutes, but Aleksander Mitrovic put his sidefooted strike just wide for Fulham, and Ameobi didn’t have enough in the tank to finish off a gut-busting dribble from deep.
Fulham’s otherwise superb Stefan Johansen missed the pick of the lot, however, skipping past a defender with ease before overexcitedly slamming the ball into the side-netting.
Jokanovic took the draw magnanimously, saying: “It’s part of the football.
“We came here with the intention to win the game. We opened the game well and after the first goal we could have scored a second.
“We dominated the game, especially in the first half, and we found many situations where they took the risk and played at the back two-against-two or three-against-three. We didn’t exploit these spaces and score the second goal.
“We had Rui Fonte, Aboubakar, and Mitrovic oneagainst-one with the keeper and didn’t score. We won only one point and we keep going and be ready for next time.
“We didn’t play some perfect game, but we made enough to win. We created many chances and we tried with two substitutions to find some benefit in the spaces.
“We didn’t score and that’s it – they scored a fantastic goal, the second goal that we didn’t score.”