THE MACRON STADIUM
Home Of: Bolton Wanderers
Ground Opened: 1997
Previous Ground: Burnden Park
Other Uses: Concerts, Darts
Rugby Union
Horwich Parkway Railway Station serves the Macron Stadium, with regular trains from Bolton's main railway station. Horwich Parkway is only a few minutes walk from the stadium.
The Macron Stadium
Rugby Union
Horwich Parkway Railway Station serves the Macron Stadium, with regular trains from Bolton's main railway station. Horwich Parkway is only a few minutes walk from the stadium.
The Macron Stadium
The stadium built by Birse Construction was opened as the Reebok Stadium in 1997 and renamed the Macron Stadium, in another corporate sponsorship deal in 2014. From the outside the stadium looks simply stunning and can be seen for miles around. I still think the view of it driving down the slip road from the M61 motorway, is one of the greatest sights to be seen in English football, especially when it is lit up at night. It has a great eye catching design and is unlike anything else in the country.
The inside is functional and tidy, but not unsurprisingly lacks the wow factor of the stadium's external appearance. It is totally enclosed and each stand has a conventional rectangular lower tier, with a semi circular upper tier above. Situated between the two tiers is a row of executive boxes. Above the stands there is a gap between the back of the stands and the roof to allow additional light to reach the pitch. The roofs are then topped with some diamond shaped floodlights that sit above a striking supporting tubular steel supporting structure. There is large video screen in one corner, situated between the South and Nat Lofthouse Stands.
One unusual feature of the ground is that the teams emerge from separate tunnels on either side of the halfway line. Outside the stadium is a statue of former player and legend Nat Lofthouse.
Away fans are housed in the two tiered South stand at one end of the ground, where up to 5,000 supporters can be accommodated, although the normal allocation is nearer 3,000. The lower tier is shared with home supporters but the upper tier is given entirely to away fans. The leg room and facilities in this stand are good and the atmosphere is boosted in the home section by the presence of a drummer.
GROUND LAYOUT
A THE WEST STAND
B THE NAT LOFTHOUSE STAND
C THE NORTH STAND
D THE SOUTH STAND (Away)
Today's Visitors SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY come into this game at the Macron in some inconsistent form, currently mid-table the Owls beat high flying fellow Yorkshire men Leeds united at Hillsborough 3-0 before the international break but ended September with defeats by near neighbours Sheffield United on home turf 2-4 and then 3 days later travelled to St. Andrews to give Birmingham City their first win in 9 games, the Blues winning 1-0.
In 8 visits spanning 19 years to the Macron (Reebok) stadium Sheffield Wednesday have only won once winning 1-0 on Boxing day 2012, the whites have won 4 times and the other 3 games were drawn.
Currant form makes the Owls slight favourites to make it 2 wins here today but with their inconsistency who knows Bolton could make it five wins against them here and gain 3 valuable points in their quest to escape the jaws of the relegation zone.
stand where the noise from the away fans made it like an home game for Wednesday but within ten minutes the Owls faithful were stunned into silence when Sammy Abeobi scored a goal that was worth the admittance fee on it's own. The ex-Newcastle United striker curled a twenty yard shot from the right hand side of the box round keeper Joe Wildsmith into the bottom far side corner of the net. Wednesday almost summoned an equaliser in the 18th minute when Steven Fletcher's attempt at goal was blocked by Bolton Keeper Ben Alnwick the whites went down the field on the counter attack former Wednesday player Gary Madine put Josh Vela through but his angled shot was well saved by Wildsmith. David Wheater's header from the resulting corner was headed off the line by Jack Hunt. Wheater had another glancing header go just wide as the home side strode to make their dominance pay. Carlos Carvalhal made two half time substitutions bringing on Jordan Rhodes and Sam Hutchinson for Ross Wallace and David Jones respectively to try and turn the game in his side's favour and it seemed to have done the trick with Wednesday starting the second half much better but Rhodes was guilty of missing a golden chance on 60 minutes.
A minute later and Vela had a shot blocked and the chance looked as if it had gone begging until astonishingly substitute Hutchinson turned Flipe Morais's corner into his own net to give Bolton a two goal lead. Moments later Bolton had the chance to seal the game when Gary Madine was clean through but his shot from four yards struck the Wednesday post and was cleared from danger. Then the moment that Bolton fans were dreading when in the 68th minute Wednesday struck back with a goal that looked likely from the start of the second half, Rhodes shot was handled by Morais in the box but Keiran Lee managed to bundle the ball over the line saving the Bolton number 22 from being red carded, he received a yellow instead. Wednesday put Bolton under pressure for the remainder of the match making it a nervy finish the
home fans. Jordan Rhodes was stretchered off near the end after a collision with David Wheater reducing the luckless Sheffield side to ten as Bolton held on to their first win of the season. Carlos Carvalhal was jeered by his fans at the end some calling for his sacking.
Today's Visitors SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY come into this game at the Macron in some inconsistent form, currently mid-table the Owls beat high flying fellow Yorkshire men Leeds united at Hillsborough 3-0 before the international break but ended September with defeats by near neighbours Sheffield United on home turf 2-4 and then 3 days later travelled to St. Andrews to give Birmingham City their first win in 9 games, the Blues winning 1-0.
In 8 visits spanning 19 years to the Macron (Reebok) stadium Sheffield Wednesday have only won once winning 1-0 on Boxing day 2012, the whites have won 4 times and the other 3 games were drawn.Currant form makes the Owls slight favourites to make it 2 wins here today but with their inconsistency who knows Bolton could make it five wins against them here and gain 3 valuable points in their quest to escape the jaws of the relegation zone.
BOLTON WANDERERS ... 2 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY ... 1 I think everyone outside Bolton had this one as an away on their betting slip with the whites yet to win a game and rooted firmly to the bottom of the Championship with just 2 points although Wednesday haven't been exactly consistent so far this season the odds were in their favour. Bolton didn't seem to care about odds though starting the game the brighter attacking the South
MATCH DETAILS
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