Bolton Wanderers feel Stockport County deja vu despite Steven Schumacher upturn | OneFootball

Bolton suffered a second loss of the season to Stockport and their toothless performances in local derbies and big games remains an issue.

Bolton Wanderers have enjoyed an impressive run of form in the last couple of months since the departure of Ian Evatt, firstly in the two-game spell of interim coach and boyhood fan Julian Darby before the appointment of former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss Steven Schumacher.

The Trotters, though, despite impressive performances and results giving supporters hope of an unlikely tilt back towards the top two and the automatic promotion spots in League One, have been undermined by a couple of repetitive results recently.

Following on from their 3-2 defeat to relegation-threatened Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium last week, they once again tasted defeat in a local derby with Stockport County completing a double over Wanderers.

Bolton had been annihilated by five goals to nil by the Hatters at Edgeley Park in the reverse fixture back in November and, despite their previous home game being an exhilarating 3-1 victory over arguably League One’s greatest ever side, Birmingham City, they stuttered to a 1-0 loss to Stockport at the weekend.

As they head into the final month of the campaign with a top six spot still in their sights, Bolton will have to regroup and prove to themselves and supporters that the same old failings are not going to haunt them once again.

The Stockport hoodoo and what that means

A couple of years ago, when Bolton had just returned to the third-tier, non-league Stockport earned themselves a replay in the first round of the FA Cup, where they overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat Bolton by five goals to three after extra-time.

For the first time in over 20 years, the two sides have met in league football and Stockport have completed the double over Wanderers with the two sides separated by two points before the game on Saturday and both in the hunt for automatic promotion.

Schumacher had pulled off some impressive turnaround wins in his first few games in charge and that aforementioned stellar victory against Birmingham suggested his group of players were entirely different to the ones that repeatedly failed to turn up in big games or in local derbies.

Now, though, there will be a legitimate and understandable fear and concern within the Bolton fanbase that those underlying issues of mentality and general stodginess, perhaps brought about by fear, in the big moments, have not gone away.

Schumacher must reignite Bolton’s fire

Schumacher’s Plymouth side won the third-tier back in the 2022/23 campaign, and they did so in chaotic fashion with a remarkable home record and some thrilling victories.

That appeared to be the case in the early stages of his time at Bolton, but Plymouth’s belligerence at Home Park has not been replicated by Bolton at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, with that defeat already putting to bed, more or less, their top two push.

The top six remains a possibility but Bolton, with a group of players that have been embarrassed in games against both Blackpool and Wigan Athletic in recent years, now face back-to-back trips in the space of three days to those grounds when they return from the March international break.

Before the end of the campaign, Wanderers also still have to go away to Barnsley as well as host genuine automatic promotion contenders Wycombe Wanderers.

The top six appeared to be a foregone conclusion for many supporters after their run of victories through February and early March, but such is the topsy-turvy and fickle nature of football fandom, a slow and painful failure to reach the top six could now beckon for the run-in.