There is something almost biblical about the figure cut by Neil Lennon when he stands unmoving on the touchline, arms outstretched for several seconds at a time, as the former Northern Ireland midfielder is occasionally wont to do.
Whether he will indeed turn out to be Bolton’s messiah, or just another naughty boy following in the footsteps of Owen Coyle and Dougie Freedman, remains to be seen given he managed to get himself sent to the stands with five minutes remaining for encroaching on the pitch. That piece of idiocy notwithstanding, however, ending Bolton’s run of five defeats, and lifting them off the bottom of the Championship in the process, is a promising start.
Not that Lennon was contrite. “I’ve been sent to the stands when I was manager of Celtic and deserved to be, but not today, it was just a yard or two to give instructions to my player,” he claimed, before admitting: “The fourth official did warn me a few times, to be fair. But it was my first game and perhaps it was over-exuberance on my part. I’m not used to the ways down here in England, and I felt it was harsh. I wasn’t remonstrating or arguing or swearing.” Lennon said he had gone on the pitch to ensure neither Jay Spearing or Lee Chung-yong took a late penalty – which substitute Craig Davies blasted over the bar.
The new manager might have seen his side go ahead early on, when Birmingham left Dorian Dervite unmarked as Jay Spearing swung in acorner from the right. Fortunately for the Blues, Dervite planted his header a couple of feet wide, but the positive start encouraged the substantial away support, a fair number of whom were wearing woolly hats in affectionate recognition of Lennon having banned the Bolton players from wearing them in training.
They were not quite as noisy a few moments later, first when Matt Mills was booked for tugging back the speedy Demarai Gray, and then when David Cotterill’s nicely hit 25-yard free-kick clipped the top of the bar with Bolton goalkeeper Andy Lonergan beaten.
Lively and inventive going forward, Birmingham continued to look vulnerable at the back. That the problems were fundamental were amply demonstrated when City’s defenders again lost their men as Spearing crossed. Mills, unlike Dervite, did not waste the chance to head firmly past Darren Randolph in the Birmingham goal.
That the veteran full-back Paul Robinson – small and, these days, decidedly lacking in pace – was at centre-half for Birmingham did not help their cause. Booked for jumping in on Neil Danns on the edge of the penalty area, Robinson was lucky the subsequent free-kick was deflected wide. Dervite headed another Spearing cross wide, but Bolton were far from secure at the back themselves, especially when the skilful 18-year-old winger Gray had the ball, as he showed by following a mazy run with a curling shot that Lonergan did well to beat away.
Gray, who has two good feet and is clearly destined for greater things, was at it again soon after the break, this time cutting in from the left flank before curling his effort over the angle of post and bar. On the hour he picked out Koby Arthur – another 18-year-old – with a low cross that the Ghana-born midfielder headed only a foot or two wide of a post.
The Birmingham manager, Lee Clark, switched to 4-4-2, pushing initially Arthur and then Wes Thomas up alongside Clayton Donaldson, but Lennon, reserving demonstrations of anger for when his side conceded possession, must have been reasonably happy with the manner in which his side coped with City’s growing pressure.
Except, that is, when Gray had the ball. Twice more he made Lonergan make saves as the defenders hesitated, nervous about attempting to tackle him in the penalty area, before, with 10 minutes remaining, he again drifted in from the left and shot. A slight deflection off Spearing looked to have taken the ball over Lonergan but the goalkeeper did superbly to touch it on to the bar.
The visitors should have made the game safe when Randolph was sent off for bringing down the substitute Davies, conceding a penalty in the process. The midfielder Lee Novak took Randolph’s place, but was not required to make a save as Davies blasted the ball over the bar.
“We gave away a really poor goal, but looked a threat all afternoon with the two young players,” said the City manager, Lee Clark. “If the players weren’t giving me everything I’d have a problem, but they are. We’ll keep fighting.”
