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Bolton moved up to 14th in the Premier League after a last gasp victory over bottom club Derby County. Substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos scored the winner in injury time after latching onto Jussi Jaaskelainen's long clearance, lifting the ball over goalkeeper Lewis Price and heading into the empty net. Derby created the first chance of the game inside the opening five minutes of the contest, Craig Fagan outmuscled Abdoulaye Meite to latch onto Jay McEveley's pass, but his shot was well saved by Jaaskelainen. Meite was also in action at the other end, heading El-Hadji Diouf's corner just wide of Price's right-hand post. Kevin Nolan was next to try his luck for the hosts. Nicolas Anelka picked out Diouf down the right who put a great ball into the box, only for the Wanderers skipper to fire over the bar with his volley. Fagan forced Jaaskelainen into a brilliant save in the 38th minute, after finding himself unmarked from a corner, the Derby forward headed towards goal but was denied superbly by the Wanderers goalkeeper. At this stage, the visitors looked the more likely scorers and were close to going in front just two minutes later. Michael Johnson tried his luck from the edge of the area, but his effort came back off the bar with Jaaskelainen routed to the spot. Moments later, Fagan beat his marker from a corner but his header hit the outside of the post and went out for a goal kick, with the majority of the travelling support celebrating a goal. Bolton responded well after the break and Andy O'Brien had a chance to break the deadlock on 57 minutes, but he headed Diouf's free-kick wide of goal. Nolan had another chance to open the scoring on the hour, but he dragged his effort wide of goal after he was closed down well by an organised Derby defence. Danny Guthrie had a great chance to give Wanderers the lead five minutes later, but he fired his effort high over the cross bar from 12 yards. The Trotters thought they had the lead a minute later when Diouf had the ball in the net, but it was ruled out for offside, it was proving to be a very frustrating night for the Wanderers fans. Anelka tried his luck from the edge of the area soon after, but Price did well to push the Frenchman's shot onto the bar and out for a corner kick. Nolan had the best chance of the game with ten minutes to go, finding space in the area for Anelka to pick him out, the Wanderers captain put his effort over the bar from just three yards out. He was soon brought off the field with the boo's of the Bolton faithful ringing in his ears. Thankfully, his and Bolton's blushes were spared a minute into three added for stoppage time. Jaaskelainen's hopeful punt upfield evaded the Derby defence, allowing Stelios to latch onto the ball, chip over Price and head into the empty net beyond to spark wild celebrations. As previously mentioned, the result moves Bolton up to 14th in the table, three points above the bottom three, while Derby remain without an away win all season and routed at the foot of the Premier League. |
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