Bolton Wanderers must hope Blackpool does not become Peterborough United 2.0 | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers defeated Blackpool with a 94th minute at the weekend but their 99th minute win against Peterborough United didn't spark a revival.

At the weekend, an under-pressure Bolton Wanderers pulled off a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Lancashire rivals Blackpool at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Aaron Collins, who, like most of the Wanderers squad, has struggled for form in the opening few months of the campaign, notched a smart 94th-minute winner after returning captain George Thomason had levelled things for the Trotters early on in the second half.

Bolton went into that game with the Seasiders on the back of a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Stockport County at Edgeley Park in a game that could well, and for many should well, have seen the end of Ian Evatt’s four-and-a-bit-years in charge of the club.

Instead, after another underwhelming first-half performance, they found some energy and urgency to get a much-deserved three points with a strong second-half showing.

There will be concerns, though, that there are significant parallels with that win against Blackpool and another just a few weeks ago against Peterborough United that didn’t spark any sort of rejuvenation.

Wanderers fans will be hoping that the weekend's victory isn't the latest false dawn.

The Posh win and what came after

After a disappointing 2-0 loss to Birmingham City in which Bolton completely lay down and offered no fight or endeavour, the pressure was on against Peterborough United.

They were poor for much of the game but came to life in the final half an hour before Klaidi Lolos scored a 99th-minute winner, bundling in from Dion Charles’ saved penalty.

Bolton did give their supporters something to get off their seats and shout about but there was something desperate in the way in which they attacked, leaving them playing as if they were manager-less but still having a grasp on the ideas that were being asked of them.

The same can be said for the display against Blackpool. After a poor first half to the extent of trailing to a team now winless since September, there was a lot of doom and gloom in the stadium.

Thomason rifled in from distance and there was a lot of endeavour from the Whites but there was just something missing. The process wasn’t working and things had needed to become desperate – and they were.

And then, once again, they did get a deserved winner deep into second-half stoppage-time via a swift counter-attack from Jay Matete and Szablocs Schon before Collins’ left-footed finish – but, again, it wasn’t convincing and the impressive nature of their second-half attacking still felt a little bit forced.

Deciphering a blip from the reality

That feeling of it being forced can be viewed as a good thing because it could suggest there is fight within the group even when playing badly but Bolton fans will fear it is just papering over cracks that have appeared over the course of 2024.

Following on from that defeat of Posh, Bolton then hammered Stevenage 4-1 on the Tuesday evening but it proved to be a false dawn. Evatt's side were knocked out of the FA Cup at the first round stage by League Two Walsall and then fell to that aforementioned 5-0 obliteration at the hands of Stockport.

Evatt has pointed out, Bolton have collected more points than the likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham over the last ten games but supporters are still not trusting of the overall form.

Throughout the turnaround since collecting just four points from their opening five matches of the campaign, performances have underwhelmed and results, such as last-gasp wins or games against the run of play, have felt fortunate.

There is a chance that a late derby day winner can be the catalyst for some much-needed consistency from Bolton now but there will be a fear that the similarities between the win against Blackpool and the win last month against Peterborough suggest that it will be another false dawn, that it is simply going to be more of the same as the pre-season automatic promotion favourites struggle to sustain a top six challenge.