RSS
|
Goals from Kevin Nolan and Heidar Helguson gave Bolton their first away league victory in 10 months as they beat Reading 2-0 at the Madejski Stadium. Matt Taylor had missed a penalty with the scores at 0-0, but Wanderers responded positively and deservedly took all three points from the game. The game began quietly with Helguson heading over from a Taylor corner the best from the opening twenty minutes, but it suddenly sprung into life midway through the first half. Gretar Steinsson dispossessed Marek Matejovsky inside the Reading half and made a run down the line before a clumsy challenge from the Czech handed Bolton a penalty. Taylor had been installed as the penalty taker but despite striking the ball well, Marcus Hahnemann guessed the right way and pushed the effort away to safety. Matejovsky gave away a free-kick inside the Wanderers half just after the half hour, causing Leroy Lita to go into the referees notebook for dissent. From the resulting free-kick, Jussi Jaaskelainen lofted the ball into the Reading penalty area, Kevin Davies outjumped Kalifa Cisse to head across goal for Nolan to slot past Hahnemann and open the scoring for the visitors. Reading responded well and Bolton debutant Gary Cahill had to concede a corner after the break following good approach play from the Royals. Ivan Campo headed past Jaaskelainen from the corner, but Danny Guthrie was well placed on the line to clear the danger. Ivar Ingimarsson had a great chance to equalise for the hosts soon after, but he scuffed his shot wide from 10 yards after his initial effort was blocked by Cahill. Despite dominating the early stages of the second half, Reading were made to pay just before the hour as Helguson scored on his return from injury. The Icelandic international, who had been out since the start of September with knee and ankle injuries beat the offside trap to fire past Hahnemann after a shot from Taylor had been blocked. Reading fans were furious the goal was allowed to stand with Helguson standing in an offside position, but television replays showed he was played through by a defender and the linesman made the correct decision. Leading by two goals, Wanderers seemed content to defend their lead and let Reading do all the work, knowing they could be vulnerable on the counter-attack. Nicky Shorey forced Jaaskelainen into a superb save from a 25-yard free-kick and Wanderers saw out the rest of the game thanks to some superb defending from Cahill and his partner Andy O'Brien. The win moves the Trotters up to 13th in the Premier League, four points clear of the bottom three and just two short of Newcastle who sit in 12th place. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||