Bolton led for four minutes, and West Ham went top of the Championship

Bolton Wanderers led West Ham United for four minutes on Tuesday night, between Ruben Rodrigues’ penalty in the 27th and Konstantinos Mavropanos’ header in the 31st. That was as good as it got. Jarrod Bowen scored in the 13th minute and again in the 77th, West Ham won 3-2 at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, and they are top of the Championship.

Bolton have not won a league match since the opening day. This was a fourth straight defeat, and it was the one where they played well.

Four goals in 18 minutes

Bowen put West Ham ahead in the 13th minute, lifting a left-footed shot high into the net after Gavin Bazunu had blocked an effort from close range. Five minutes later Ethan Erhahon struck with his left foot, the ball clipped Mavropanos on the way through and beat Mads Hermansen. It was the first goal Erhahon has scored for Bolton.

Then Kyle Walker-Peters fouled Kyliane Dong in the box, and Rodrigues sent Hermansen the wrong way from the spot. Bolton were 2-1 up in the 27th minute against a side that would end the night top of the division. Four minutes later Arne Engels swung a free-kick to the far post, Mavropanos got above everyone, and it was 2-2.

There were no more goals for 46 minutes. Then Bazunu got a hand to a close-range Bowen shot in the 77th and could not keep it out.

Schumacher changed seven and got a performance

Steven Schumacher made seven changes, which is what a manager does when the run is bad enough that continuity has stopped being an argument. One of the players he brought in was making his debut. Gavin Bazunu went in goal and made saves. Kyliane Dong won the penalty and caused problems down his side all night.

A crowd of 25,510 watched it, with a strong West Ham away following inside the ground. David Webb refereed. Schumacher’s reading afterwards was that his side have not deserved to lose any of the four, and on the evidence of this one he has a point, which is also the least useful kind of point to have.

West Ham are top, and a week ago they had not won

West Ham have 11 points from six matches and a goal difference of plus five, which puts them above Swansea City at the top on goal difference alone. Before 1 September they had not won a Championship match this season. They have now won three in a row.

Nuno Espirito Santo was not pretending otherwise. He said Bolton had played a fantastic game and created enormous problems, and that his side had to react and be resilient. Managers say versions of that after most away wins. In this case the scoreline supports it. West Ham went behind away from home and scored twice after it.

Bolton sit 22nd on four points from six. Three of those came on the opening day. The gap between how they played on Tuesday and where they are in the table is the thing Schumacher has to close, and four consecutive defeats is a long time to spend being encouraged.

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