After all the excitement produced by the first performance under Evans at Fulham, it was very much ‘as you were’, with a disappointing draw at bottom club Bolton Wanderers.

The day began with a game of ‘how many Leeds fans can you fit in a three car train?’ between Manchester and Horwich Parkway. You would have thought that with Leeds taking 4,419 fans to Bolton and a reduced frequency on that route due to engineering work it would have been a good idea to provide a longer train, but evidently that was beyond the wit of anyone at Northern Rail.

Steve Evans began with an unchanged line-up, even though he was later to suggest that a bit of tiredness had affected our performance, with this game coming so soon after Wednesday night. Perhaps the intensity of that performance had worn them out a bit, because Leeds never came close to matching it during the first half.

One of my Bolton-supporting colleagues had told me that he hoped we’d see three goals at our end in the first half, a referring to Bolton’s preference for playing that way if they win the toss. And that could have happened, with the hosts having some decent chances before and after their goal. First Pratley sent a header just over, then Feeney was allowed to run through after the ref played a good advantage, but sent his shot across the face of goal and past the far post.

At least the huge Leeds contingent in the crowd was winning the vocal battle off the field, and mocking the efforts of the small group of Bolton fans in the corner to our right to raise some atmosphere in the sparsely populated home stands. “We’re Leeds United, we don’t need a drum”. But most of the home fans finally woke up in the 32nd minute as their team took the lead.

Our problems began when Silvestri and Beradi got in a muddle over who was dealing with a through ball, and needlessly conceded a corner. And when that wasn’t cleared properly it fell nicely for Ameobi to hammer the ball into the net. Bolton could have gone further in front a few minutes later, but Silvestri partially redeemed himself with a good save from Feeney.

We did have a few moments of our own going forward, with Adeyemi hitting the post in the first few minutes, but seemed to struggle to give the front two any service. Byram was well marshalled by their left back early on and then seemed reluctant to get forward down the right and take him on. Our best moment of the half came just before the break when Wood finally won a header and then reacted well as the ball came back to him, but put his shot too close to Amos.

We began the second period with Mowatt in place of the ineffectual Murphy, and started to show rather more urgency than we had before the break. Antenucci had the first chance of the half when he fired into the side netting, not the last time when he could have considered passing to a colleague in a better position.

Then Adeyemi went close with a superb shot after I’d thought he’d taken too long by wanting the ball on his left foot, with Amos just managing to get a slight touch to divert the ball onto the post. But the equaliser finally came on 71 minutes, beginning with a breakaway after Silvestri had saved from Dobbie.

Antenucci and Prince tangled on the halfway line, with the Italian allowed to run through even though Prince had been left on the floor. And when the hapless Prince had got to his feet and furiously raced back to defend, he caught Antenucci’s heel as our man turned in the area, leading to a penalty and a red card.

Neil Lennon had no complaints about the red card, but to be honest I thought it a bit harsh, with a couple of other defenders on hand and Amos quickly off his line, and that’s before we consider Antenucci’s woeful shooting earlier in the game. After a brief discussion between our front two Antenucci was allowed to take the kick and refused to be distracted by Amos dancing on the goal-line, hitting it hard and straight while the keeper dived to his right.

As we tried to force a victory in the closing stages Buckley came on for Dallas and then Phillips for Cook, but despite our man advantage we never really looked like making the breakthrough and had to settle for yet another 1-1 draw. I thought it was a fair result on the day, but that view may not be shared by the Bolton fan I overheard on the way out, who was saying “the game was ruined by the ref”.

If we’re going to start climbing the table the bottom clubs will have to be beaten, both home and away, but I suppose we’ll have to see what Evans can do once he’s got a bit of time to work with the squad between matches. Roll on Thursday night

Photo: Action Images

Middlesbrough Polls