Fleetwood Town suffered a cruel last-minute defeat to Bolton Wanderers at Highbury on Saturday afternoon.
A magic moment mid-way through the first half from Carlos Mendes Gomes wasn’t enough to earn Town anything against Bolton Wanderers, as the Sky Bet League One fixture ended in a 2-1 win for the visitors courtesy of late goals by Conor Bradley and Oladapo Afolayan.
The game began at a very high tempo, Bolton came out of the traps the faster of the two sides, but Josh Earl and Toto Nsiala were solid at the back for Town, alongside Harrison Holgate.
The first real chance of the game came eleven minutes in when Elias Kachunga drove inside the Cods’ box, but his shot was tame and easy for Jay Lynch to collect.
Town then responded with an attempt of their own three minutes later when Holgate got his head onto a swinging cross by Danny Andrew.
The Cods however put themselves in the lead when Mendes Gomes smashed his shot past James Trafford in the Trotters' goal to provide a moment of brilliance.
It was end-to-end for most fob the game, and Town were up for it. Bolton started fast but slowed once Scott Brown’s men found their groove. Josh Earl ran into the box and drilled the ball across the face of goal, but nobody was there to tap it home.
Then it was the turn for Andrew to have an opportunity, but his shot went over the bar, which was the last chance of the first 45 as more of the same was expected after the break.
Bolton were looking for a reaction straight away as they were down in the first half, but it seemed to be more Town creating chances. As Mendes Gomes found Earl, the defender had a great chance on goal as his effort was very narrowly wide of the target.
Then, the Trotters came at Town with a flurry of efforts. It was almost pinball in the box, but nothing came of the chances for Ian Evatt’s men. Some brilliant defending by Nsiala soon followed as he managed to do enough to deny Bolton’s Dion Charles from getting a foot on the ball in the 57th minute.
Lynch was then called into action once again just after as he had to pull off a fantastic save to deny Owen Beck from inside the area, keeping the scoreline in Town’s favour.
With 35 minutes left, Afolayan powered Bolton forwards but to no prevail as his cross was drilled across the face of goal with no Wanderers forward to make contact. Most of the second half saw the visitors try to find an elusive equaliser as they piled on the pressure throughout.
However, Rooney, who was becoming an influential figure in the game, ran down the right flank and struck an effort which hit the post of Trafford’s goal. Ever so close to a second for Town with just 18 minutes to go.
As the game got down to its final five minutes, Bolton hit back through Bradley who got on the end of a drilled cross by Kieran Sadlier. A kick in the teeth happened with seconds to go as the points were snatched away as Afolayan converted from close range to secure the win for Bolton.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew, Mendes Gomes (Omochere 60’), Vela (C), Morton, Warrington, Holgate, Nsiala, Batty (Lane 87’), Rooney, Earl.
Unused subs: Stolarczyk (GK), Wiredu, J.Garner, G.Garner, Johnston.
Trotters XI: Trafford (GK), Jones, Almeida Santos (C), Johnston, Charles (Bodvarsson 63’), Morley, Afolayan, Bradley, Kachunga (Sheehan 82’), Thomason, Beck (Sadlier 79’).
Unused subs: John, Williams, Iredale, Toal.