Bolton's wall holds: eleven games, still nobody past them
A goalless afternoon at Salford keeps Bolton Wanderers unbeaten and top of Sky Bet League One, while Portsmouth close to within four points and Sunderland sink to the bottom three.
Eleven games, twenty-seven points, no defeats. That is the shape of Bolton Wanderers' season after a 0-0 draw at Salford City on 13 October, and it is the number the rest of Sky Bet League One is chasing.
It was not a day for the travelling support to remember, but it was a day that told them something. Salford made it awkward, the ball would not go in, and Bolton came away with a point and their clean sheet intact. Eight wins and three draws now, a goal difference of +14. The last side to beat them in the league is a memory nobody at the club can quite place.
Behind them, Portsmouth are refusing to drift. A 1-0 win at Brentford, ground out rather than given, leaves them on 23 points from eleven games, four behind the leaders with seven wins of their own. Oxford United sit third on 21 after a 3-2 win at Hartlepool United, and Preston North End are level with them on 21 after a 1-0 win at Boreham Wood. Norwich City, fifth on 20, were the most comfortable of the afternoon, beating Cheltenham Town 2-0.
At the other end, Cheltenham's afternoon leaves them bottom with six points from eleven games, one win all season. Sunderland, a point better off with a game in hand, are 23rd after ten games. Tranmere Rovers lost 3-1 at Cambridge United and are 22nd on eight points.
Elsewhere, Derby County won 4-2 at Southend United, Leyton Orient and Walsall shared four goals, Barnet drew 0-0 at Crawley Town, and Sutton United's 1-1 with Barnsley lifted them from 12th to eighth. Cambridge's win took them from 20th to 17th.
Bolton go again with the target on their backs. Eleven games in, nobody has managed to knock it off.