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Bolton have beaten Tranmere 1-0 at Prenton Park thanks to a Ricardo Vaz Te goal seven minutes from time. The visitors made eight changes to the side which suffered a 3-0 reversal at the hands of Hibernian in mid-week, with only El-Hadji Diouf, Ricardo Vaz Te and Heidar Helguson retaining their places. A strong Wanderers side was named, and managed to bounce back from the defeat by turning in a good performance against the League 1 side. The game began with each side creating opportunities, and a good end-to-end game looked on the cards. Tranmere had the first chance of the game, Chris Shuker fed in Steve Davies who's shot across goal flashed wide of Jussi Jaaskelainen's left hand post. But, Bolton went straight to the other end and when Kevin Davies' surging run and cross from the right picked out Heidar Helguson, the Icelandic international failed to control his shot, wasting a good opportunity. Shuker tried a 25-yard free-kick on 16 minutes, which drifted wide of goal, and the hosts went even closer when Calvin Zola turned Abdoulaye Meite on the edge of the area, but placing his shot wide of Jaaskelainen's left hand post. Tranmere should have taken the lead on 27 minutes, Steve Davies found himself unmarked in the area before unleashing a powerful effort which was wide once again. Incidently, Bolton should have taken the lead just three minutes later, when El-Hadji Diouf somehow managed to put the ball over the bar from eight yards. Bolton were now beginning to take control of the game, and efforts from Jlloyd Samuel and Kevin Nolan forced saves out of Danny Coyne in the Tranmere goal. Kevin Davies was inches away from giving the Trotters the lead on the stroke of half-time, a loose ball fell to the feet of Davies who smashed a volley from the edge of the area against the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten. There was a change of ball at half-time, by Bolton's request, the Football League ball's were replaced by those of the Premier League. Kevin Nolan found himself clear on goal on 57 minutes, but his shot was blocked. Bolton made a double substitution on the hour, with Mikel Alonso and Gavin McCann replacing James Sinclair and Heidar Helguson, with Alonso's appearance being his first in Bolton colours. Another change was made ten minutes later when Danny Guthrie, on loan from Tranmere rivals Liverpool, replaced Nicky Hunt. The skipper almost gave the Whites the lead on 77 minutes, James Sinclair's excellent work on the right found Nolan, but his shot from an acute angle only found the side netting. However, the visitors finally took the lead in the 83rd minute, El-Hadji Diouf put an excellent ball through to Ricardo Vaz Te, who's control and shot from 12 yards found the net. Immediately after the goal was scored, Scott Jamieson replaced Kevin Davies and the game ended in a 1-0 triumph for Sammy Lee's men, who host last season's UEFA Cup finalists Espanyol at the Reebok on Wednesday evening. |
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