Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Posted: Saturday 27th February 2010
Tags: Match Reports, Premier League, Bolton Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Zat Knight
Bolton are out of the Premier League's bottom three after beating fierce rivals Wolves 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium.
A Zat Knight goal in first half stoppage time was the difference between the two sides, a result which moves Bolton above Wolves and into 15th place.
Bolton started well but had to wait until 16 minutes had gone before creating their first opportunity. Lee Chung-Yong picked out Johan Elmander on the edge of the box and he brought Wolves 'keeper Marcus Hahnemann into his first save of the afternoon.
With half-an-hour on the clock, a mistake from Christophe Berra put Kevin Davies in on goal but his shot was blocked by Hahnemann before Elmander's rebound was blocked by Jody Craddock.
Stuart Holden, making his Premier League debut, almost caught out the Wolves defence with an inswinging free-kick moments later as Bolton kept the pressure on their opponents.
Craddock brought Jussi Jaaskelainen into action on 44 minutes with a near post header from a corner, before Jack Wilshere saw a shot deflected over at the other end just a minute later.
From the resulting corner, Chung-Yong kept the ball in play after it was over-hit by Holden, before cutting inside Adlene Guedioura and playing the ball across the face of goal for Knight to poke home his first for the club, Bolton's first in over nine hours of football.
A minute after the restart, Bolton thought they should have had a penalty after Ronald Zubar appeared to handle inside the box, but referee Andre Marriner waved away the protests.
Then, just a minute later, Fabrice Muamba played in Davies but he fluffed his shot and Hahnemann made a simple save.
Just before the hour, Wolves came close to an equaliser. After Paul Robinson had fouled David Jones, the Wolves midfielder picked himself up and curled a free-kick against Jaaskelainen's left-hand post.
Bolton responded and Holden brought Hahnemann into action but Wolves were now coming into the game and had Sam Ricketts to thank for a superbly timed block with Matt Jarvis set to shoot.
Just a minute later, Kevin Foley showed superb control before volleying past Jaaskelainen only to see it rebound off the post once more as Wolves began to curse their luck.
At the other end, substitute Ivan Klasnic had two chances to double the lead. First, he brought Hahnemann into a good save before curling a powerful effort just wide of the post with ten minutes remaining.
Hahnemann then appeared to make a rash decision, coming out of his area to head the ball clear, and Klasnic's header from 30-yards was directed narrowly wide of goal.
After three minutes of stoppage time, the referee called time and gave Bolton their first win in a month. Next up is a trip to fellow strugglers West Ham United next weekend.
Bolton Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Ricketts, Knight, Robinson, Muamba, Chung-Yong (Weiss 90), Wilshere (Taylor 81), Holden, Elmander (Klasnic 64), K Davies
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Riga, Cohen, A O'Brien
Goals: Knight 45
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Henry, Guedioura (Ebanks-Blake 68), Foley (Keogh 73), Jones, Jarvis, Doyle
Subs Not Used: Hennessey, Elokobi, Vokes, Milijas, Mancienne
Booked: Henry, Keogh
Attendance: 21,261
Referee: Andre Marriner
