Wanderers pick up Harold Taylor Memorial Trophy with pre-season win at Chorley

Bolton Wanderers earned a 1-0 victory at local side Chorley to continue the club’s unbeaten pre-season, and with it came the Harold Taylor Memorial Trophy.

Born and bred Wanderers man Adam Senior captained the side at Victory Park and headed home what turned out to be the only goal of the game in the first half before going on to lift the silverware, rounding off a proud night for both him and his family.

Billed as a Bolton XI in the build-up, but led by first team manager Ian Evatt, numerous senior players were named from the start and one of those – Ali Crawford – was unlucky not to open the scoring early on.

The Scottish midfielder just didn’t have the height nor leap to meet Ronan Darcy’s cross with any vigour, and instead saw his header taken comfortably by Matt Urwin in the Chorley goal.

In the spotlight courtesy of their run to the FA Cup Fourth Round last season, Jamie Vermiglio’s Chorley could have been ahead themselves as front man Andy Owens’ attempted overhead kick from close range forced a good stop from Bolton’s young keeper Luke Hutchinson.

Owens came close again just before the half hour mark, firing just wide having linked up well with Billy Whitehouse, that after Dennis Politic and Crawford took aim at the Chorley goal without success.

Wanderers’ midfielder turned defender Brandon Comley also saw his header at goal go wide of the mark and Politic brought another good save out of Urwin with a long-range effort before the breakthrough came in the 26^th minute.

In the ascendancy, Bolton worked the ball well from a short corner, creating space for Crawford to pick out Senior at the back post. Having been with the club from a young age and worked as an assistant kit man last campaign just to be involved in the first team setup, the 19-year-old got his rewards as he powered a header into the back of the net.

If Senior was proving his worth on the night, so was keeper Hutchinson, himself just 18. A double save prior to the half time whistle kept Bolton in front at the break, and what a moment it was as Hutchinson denied Jon Ustabaşi then tipped Adam Henley’s follow-up from close range onto the post and away from danger.

At the start of the second half, Politic beat a couple of Chorley defenders and unleashed another shot at goal but saw this one go behind for a goal kick. Hutchinson then made another good stop to keep the Magpies out from close range.

As the substitutions started to flow for both sides, more youngsters were given a chance to impress coming off the Wanderers’ bench. One of those – Matt Tweedley – split the hosts’ defence open and found Jay Fitzmartin up front though the latter’s effort was saved by Urwin.

Then, 10 minutes before the end, came a piece of defending from Senior which probably sealed the win for Bolton. Left in space in the box, Chorley’s Henley struck a low effort at goal which crept through the legs of Hutchinson and was heading into the back of the Bolton net.

There was Senior though to clear the ball off the line and preserve his team’s lead, this was his night, and nobody was going to stop it from being so. He blocked another shot not long after, cushioning the ball back into the arms of Hutchinson, though that one didn’t look to be causing a lot of danger anyway.

With the last action of the game, Hutchinson also gathered the ball well from a corner to stop Harvey Smith’s headed effort, so come the final whistle, the Whites were victorious courtesy of Senior’s first half goal.

Though not his first goal for the club nor the first team, this one will surely mean more to Senior than a consolation effort in a Papa John’s Trophy group stage game away at Shrewsbury Town last season. This one was in front of the fans, and it earned silverware.

Next up for Bolton is their seventh and final pre-season match as they welcome Blackburn Rovers to the University of Bolton stadium this Saturday. Unbeaten in their warm-up games for the League One campaign to date, boss Evatt will be happy with the XI’s work at Chorley.

The Wanderers kick-off their league season at home to MK Dons on Saturday August 7.

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